PETALING JAYA: In-form mixed doubles shuttlers Jimmy Wong-Lai Pei Jing were foiled in their bid to reach their fifth final of the year in the Super 100 China Masters after going down to homesters Zhu Yijun-Li Qian in the last four.
Jimmy-Pei Jing started well to take the first game but the Chinese pair refused to throw in the towel and fought back to come away with an 18-21, 21-19, 21-10 win in Baoji yesterday.
The Malaysian duo, who only combined in March, were hoping to continue their fine form after finishing runners-up to Denmark’s Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje in their last outing at the Super 300 Macau Open last month.
The world No. 84 independent pair also came second in the Vietnam International Challenge, Phuket International Series and St Denis Reunion Open.
Jimmy-Pei Jing though missed out on another final after they could not maintain their performance following their win in the first game and had to concede defeat to Yijun-Li Qian.
Despite losing, it was still an encouraging outing for the 23-year-old Jimmy and Pei Jing, 33, who were the only Malaysians to make it to the semi-finals.
The pair will be out to do better when they compete in the Vietnam Open which starts on Tuesday in Ho Chi Minh.
Meanwhile, it was a disappointing outing for the back-up men’s doubles pairs after none progressed to the quarter-finals.
Mohd Faiq Masawi-Lok Hong Quan toppled teammates and world junior champions Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing 21-17, 21-12 in the first round but lost out 16-21, 18-21 to China’s Deng Haoxuan-Xu Jiajun in the second round.
Bryan Goonting-Fazriq Razif went down 18-21, 13-21 to Taiwan’s Cheng Kai-wen-Liao Chao-pang in the second round while independent pair Chia Weijie-Liew Xun were ousted 19-21, 11-21 by another Taiwanese duo Lin Chia-yen-Lin Yong-sheng.
