PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's challenge at the Hylo Open ended in the semi-finals after Aaron Tai-Yap Roy King and Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing went down in hard-fought three-game matches in Saarbrucken, Germany, on Saturday (Oct 31).
In the men's doubles, world No. 74 Aaron-Roy King pushed Denmark's Christian Faust Kjaer-Rasmus Kjaer all the way before going down 21-18, 15-21, 18-21 in 59 minutes at the Saarlandhalle.
The Danish world No. 26 pair will face England's second seeds Ben Lane-Sean Vendy in the final.
Pang Ron-Pei Jing, meanwhile, narrowly missed out on a second consecutive final following their runner-up finish at the French Open last week.
The unseeded Malaysians fell 20-22, 21-16, 17-21 to reigning world champions Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue of France in a thrilling 70-minute encounter.
Gicquel-Delrue will face Denmark's Jesper Toft-Amalie Cecilie Kudsk in the final.
The defeats ended Malaysia's two-tournament title run on the European swing after Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah captured the women's doubles crown at the Denmark Open and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun won the men's doubles title at the French Open.
Elsewhere, India will be represented in both singles finals.
World No. 14 Lakshya Sen will take on Indonesia's world No. 6 and defending champion Jonatan Christie for the men's singles crown, while second seed P.V. Sindhu will face Denmark's eighth seed Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt in the women's final.
The women's doubles final will see top seeds Hsu Yin-hui-Lin Jhih-yun of Taiwan take on Indonesian fifth seeds Amallia Cahaya Pratiwi-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.
All five finals will be played on Sunday.
