PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles pair Jimmy Wong-Cheng Su Yin’s campaign at the French Open ended with a first-round defeat to Amri Syahnawi-Nita Marwah of Indonesia yesterday.
Despite a hard-fought opening game, the world No. 41 Malaysian duo ultimately fell to the 12th-ranked Indonesians 20-22, 18-21.
Amri-Nita, fresh off their silver medal performance at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games last month, secured the victory in 38 minutes at the Arena Grand Paris.
Although their tournament run was cut short, Jimmy-Su Yin can take pride in their performance.
In just six months as partners, the pair has already achieved notable success, reaching the Japan Open semi-finals in July and the Korea Masters quarter-finals in August.
Meanwhile, another Malaysian mixed doubles pair Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien also faltered at the first hurdle against Taiwan’s Wu Guan Xun-Lee Chia Hsin, losing 12-21, 10-21 in 25 minutes.
Malaysia’s hopes in the mixed doubles event now rest on their two remaining pairs.
Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing will look to build on their semi-final appearance at the Denmark Open last week as they take on China’s Gao Jia Xuan-Wu Meng Ying.
In another highly anticipated first-round match, World No. 9 pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie will square off against the German mixed doubles pair of Marvin Seidel-Thuc Phuong Nguyen.
In the men’s singles, Leong Jun Hao suffered a straight-games defeat to Japan’s Koki Watanabe, falling 15-21, 11-21 in 40 minutes. The result marks the 27-year-old’s second straight first round loss to the world No. 16 in as many weeks, following his exit at the Denmark Open.
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