PETALING JAYA: Malaysia are guaranteed at least two men’s doubles pairs in the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Masters, with two all-Malaysian second-round clashes on the cards.
Former world No. 1 men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin will take on teammates Chia Weijie-Teo Ee Yi tomorrow in the second round, while Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King will face Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing.
For Sze Fei, the fact that Ee Yi-Weijie are still a relatively new partnership does not make them any easier to beat, as both pairs know each other’s strengths and weaknesses well.
“I think every opponent is tough. But when it’s our own teammates, I think it’s even tougher for us.
“I don’t think there is any advantage for either pair. But this is a good sign for Malaysian badminton,” said Sze Fei.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin booked their place in the second round after beating Indonesia’s Putra Erwiansyah-Bagas Maulana 21-16, 21-14 in just 30 minutes.
Weijie-Ee Yi also advanced after defeating Canada’s Kevin Lee-Ty Lindeman 21-18, 21-15.
Earlier, Arif-Roy King were made to work hard before overcoming He Zhi-wei-Huang Jui-hsuan 21-19, 15-21, 21-11, while Aaron-Khai Xing came from a game down to beat Taiwan’s Lai Po-yu-Tsai Fu-cheng 17-21, 21-19, 21-16.
“I feel like it doesn’t really matter because winning or losing is part of the game. Whoever wins, Malaysia still wins,” said Aaron.
Also through to the second round were top seeds Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.
However, they were made to work hard before sealing a 19-21, 21-10, 21-12 win over Singapore’s Wesley Koh-Junsuke Kubo.
“I think they played really well in the first game. We even had a lead of around 10 points, but we were not tight enough there.
“In the second game, we just played the same way, and I think they made quite a few mistakes, so we took advantage of that,” said Wooi Yik.
Aaron-Wooi Yik will next face either France’s Julien Maio-William Villeger or Scotland’s Christopher Grimley-Matthew Grimley in the second round.
Meanwhile, veteran men’s doubles pair Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Azriyn Ayub caused an upset after knocking out fourth seeds Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan of Taiwan in the first round.
Wee Kiong-Azriyn had never beaten the world No. 15 pair since first meeting them at the Korean Open in 2023.
But with strong support from the home crowd, the Malaysians produced an impressive performance to beat Jhe-huei-Po-hsuan 21-14, 21-14 in just 26 minutes.
In the women’s doubles, Malaysian pairs Vanessa Ng-Choong Jie Yu and seventh seeds Carmen Ting-Ong Xin Yee also exited in the first round.
Vanessa-Jie Yu lost 16-21, 17-21 to Taiwan’s Chen Yan-fei-Sun Liang-ching, while Carmen-Xin Yee went down 15-21, 20-22 to Hsieh Yi-en-Teng Chun-hsun.
