PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles shuttlers Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin hope to have a good showing at the Macau Open which starts on Monday (July 28), to give them a much-needed confidence boost.
The Super 300 Macau tourney will be the two pairs' last opportunity to win a title before the World Championships from Aug 25-31 in Paris.
Both pairs have not won any titles this year and have struggled to produce their best form.
World No. 4 Tang Jie-Ee Wei's best result so far this year were semi-final finishes in the Opens in Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Japan while world No. 13 Pang Ron-Su Yin have only made the last eight twice in the Indonesian Masters and Orleans Masters.
The former have also faced off-court issues and split at the end of March after a strained relationship before resolving their differences and reuniting less than a month later.
Meanwhile, Pang Ron-Su Yin are finding it tough at the highest level after a breakthrough in 2024 and have suffered eight early round exits in 2025.
The pair will be hoping to turn their form around in Macau where they will be seeded third while Tang Jie-Ee Wei will start as the top seeds.
Tang Jie-Ee Wei should have no problems getting past Leong Lok Chong-Ng Weng Chi in the first round while Pang Ron-Su Yin have a trickier opening task against Indonesia's Bobby Setiabudi-Melati Daeva.
Pang Ron-Su Yin will also be under pressure to at least reproduce their showing last year where they made it into the semi-finals as anything less this time will see them lose ranking points.
Both the Malaysian pairs' toughest challengers for the title could be China's second seeds Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi and Indonesia's fourth seeds Rehan Naufal-Gloria Emanuelle.
Meanwhile, the other Malaysian mixed pairs hoping to make an impression in the tourney are Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien, Jimmy Wong-Lai Pei Jing, Loo Bing Kun-Go Pei Kee, Liew Xun-Ho Lo Ee and Wee Yee Hern-Chan Wen Tse.
