PETALING JAYA: Things are starting to click on court for freshly paired men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia and Aaron Tai after they pulled off a strong comeback to book a spot in the Taiwan Open semi-finals.
Chia-Tai, who are only competing in their second tournament together as a pair, defeated home favourites and second seeds Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan 15-21, 21-7, 21-18 at the Taipei Arena yesterday.
Chia-Tai’s performance was a positive indication that their partnership is progressing after their maiden outing at the China Open last week ended in the opening round.
The fifth seeds have a chance to take it one step further if they can take down another Taiwanese pair in Chen Cheng-kuan-Liu Kuang-heng for a spot in the final.
Meanwhile, women’s doubles duo Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah defeated Taiwan’s Lin Chih-chun-Yang Chu-yun 21-14, 21-17 in just 35 minutes to enter the semi-finals.
The top seeds can walk with heads held high as this their first good show since Pearly returned from injury late May.
World No. 5 Pearly-Thinaah will face Francesca Corbett-Jennie Gai of the United States and should make it to the final.
However, youngsters Low Zi Yu-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan ended their fairytale run after going down fighting 21-11, 20-22, 22-24 to Thailand’s Hathaithip Mijad-Napapkorn Tungkasatan.
It is also over for Justin Hoh who lost 17-21, 18-21 to South Korea’s Yoo Tae-bin in the quarter-finals.
Q-FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Yoo Tae-bin (Kor) bt Justin Hoh (Mas) 21-17, 21-18; Lin Chun-yi (Tpe) bt Jason Gunawan (Hkg) 19-21, 21-11, 21-12; Yudai Okimoto (Jpn) bt Kiran George (Ind) 21-12, 21-10.
Men’s doubles: Aaron Chia-Aaron Tai (Mas) bt Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan (Tpe) 15-21, 21-7, 21-18; Chen Cheng-kuan-Liu Kuang-heng (Tpe) bt Jin Yong-Lee Jong-min (Kor) 21-10, 13-21, 21-16; Leo Carnando-Daniel Marthin (Ina) bt Chia Yen-lin-Lin Yong-sheng (Tpe) 21-11, 21-17.
Women’s singles: Huang Yu-hsun (Tpe) bt Lin Hsiang-ti (Tpe) 17-21, 21-13, 21-18; Unnati Hooda (Ind) bt Devika Sihag (Ind) 23-21, 21-16; Thuy Linh Nguyen (Vie) bt Chiu Pin-chian (Tpe) 21-14, 19-21, 21-13; Tanvi Sharma (Ind) bt Supanida Katethong (Tha) 21-15, 18-21, 21-14.
Women’s doubles: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (Mas) bt Lin Chih-chun-Yang Chu-yun (Tpe) 21-14, 21-17; Hathaithip Mijad-Napapakorn Tungkasatan (Tha) bt Low Zi Yu-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan (Mas) 11-21, 22-20, 24-22; Sumire Nakade-Miyu Takahashi (Jpn) bt Hsu Ya-ching-Sung Yu-hsuan (Tpe) 21-19, 21-13.
Mixed doubles: Yang Po-hsuan-Hu Ling-fang (Tpe) bt Haruki Kawabe-Kokona Ishikawa (Jpn) 21-12, 21-12; Rehan Kusharjanto-Gloria Widjaja (Ina) bt Supak Jomkoh-Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn (Tha) 17-21, 21-16, 21-10; Wu Guan-xun-Lee Chia-hsin (Tpe) bt Ruttanapak Oupthong-Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat (Tha) 14-21, 21-16, 21-18; Yuta Watanabe-Maya Taguchi (Jpn) bt Ye Hong-wei-Nicole Gonzales Chan (Tpe) 21-18, 21-7.
