PETALING JAYA: Young Malaysian women’s doubles pair Low Zi Yu-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan pulled off an upset by ousting another top 10 pair in Hsieh Pei Shan-Hung En Tzu of Taiwan to reach the second round of the Australian Open in Sydney yesterday.
The world No. 84 pair showed plenty of composure and determination to beat the world No. 8 and second seeds 21-19, 13-21, 21-19 in a 70-minute battle.
Zi Yu-Noraqilah will next take on either Australia’s Jazmine Lam-Lim Yee Yuan or Sai Mushini-Ava Wong next and should be able to win.
The duo had also beaten a top 10 pair in Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi during the tie against Japan at the Uber Cup Finals in Horsens, Denmark, in May.
Meanwhile, former Asian champion Lee Zii Jia will face a stern test in the opening round when he takes on Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao today.
On paper, the two players are evenly matched, with each having won three of their six previous meetings. Coincidentally, their last meeting also came at the Australian Open two years ago.
Zii Jia won that encounter, beating Chia-hao in the semi-finals before going on to capture the title.
However, things are different this time as Zii Jia had to come through two tough qualifying matches to reach the main draw.
Coach Liew Daren is not looking too far ahead as the Australian Open is the first of four tournaments Zii Jia will compete in over the next four weeks.
Daren hopes Zii Jia can go as far as possible in Sydney, but believes the more important thing is for him to remain injury-free with a packed schedule still to come.
After the Australian Open, Zii Jia will compete in the Macau Open from June 16-21 before heading to California for the US Open (June 23-28) and then to Ontario for the Canadian Open (June 30-July 5).
“I think he is getting better and there are no injury concerns at the moment. What matters now is how he performs in the tournaments. Hopefully, he can produce good performances.
“There is nothing unusual about the training programme. We have continued with our normal training routine while also focusing on his physical conditioning.
“We need to make sure he is physically prepared for the tournaments ahead,” said Daren.
Zii Jia shrugged off fatigue to come through two tough qualifying matches and secure a place in the main draw of the Australian Open on Tuesday (June 9).
Competing at the Quaycentre in Sydney, Zii Jia got off to a positive start by edging Japan’s Shogo Ogawa 24-22, 22-20 in a closely fought contest.
Despite having less than two hours to recover, the former Asian champion produced another impressive display to beat Japan’s Riki Takei 15-21, 21-17, 21-16 in 61 minutes and book his spot in the first round.
Earlier, Eogene Ewe also booked his place in the main draw after coming through the qualifying rounds.
