PETALING JAYA: A rise in the world rankings may be encouraging for mixed doubles pair Jimmy Wong-Cheng Su Yin, but they know their recent performances have left much to be desired.
The pair have climbed to world No. 32 after just seven months together, but have struggled to produce the results to match their steady rise in the rankings.
Since reaching the quarter-finals of the Korean Masters in August, Jimmy-Su Yin have suffered early exits in all three tournaments they contested during the European swing last month.
They will be hoping to turn things around at the Japan Masters in Kumamoto, which begins on Tuesday (Nov 10), although they face a tough opening-round challenge against China's world No. 6 Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui.
The two pairs have never met before, but Jimmy-Su Yin will need to raise their game considerably if they are to overcome their higher-ranked opponents and end their run of disappointing results.
"We will try to bounce back, improve our performances and achieve the targets we have set," said Jimmy.
Like Jimmy-Su Yin, teammates Chen Tang Jie-Chan Wen Tse will also be looking to bounce back after a disappointing outing at the Korean Open last week, where they were eliminated in the second round.
However, they face a tricky opening-round encounter against home pair and world No. 18 Yuchi Shimogami-Sayaka Hobara.
Meanwhile, Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing will be hoping to maintain their momentum as they prepare for their sixth consecutive tournament in as many weeks, having been on the road since the Arctic Open in Finland early last month.
They will face either of the Canadian pairs, Lap Kan Kern Pong-Catherine Choi or Jonathan Lai-Crystal Lai, who will meet in the qualifying round.
Another Malaysian pair, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai, will take on China's Zhu Yijun-Li Qian in their opening match.
