Professionals Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying moved into the last four in the mixed doubles in the USD400,000 Perodua Malaysia Masters but it was a sad end to their former national teammates Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil on Friday.
Peng Soon-Liu Ying, the silver medalists at the 2016 Rio Olympics, made the semi-finals in 42 minutes with a 21-15, 21-18 win over Japan’s Takaro Hoki-Wakana Nagahara, their third win over the Japanese.
“It does not matter who we play in the semi-finals. We are focused and want to keep the good start to the year going…if we can win the title it will be a massive boost to us,” said Peng Soon after the match.
Liu Ying is also pleased with the pair’s performance to the semi-finals but was quick to admit that they did “lost track” in the second game before recovering fast for a straight games win.
“For now we need a good rest and come back stronger for the semi-finals,” said the Melaka-born Liu Ying.
For Soon Huat-Shevon it was another miserable defeat at the hands of top seeds and world No 1 Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong as the Chinese tightened their supremacy over the Malaysians. The Chinese have now won all their six encounters.
The jinx continued with the Chinese packing off their Malaysian opponents 21-11, 21-9 in only 24 minutes.
Still, Soon Huat-Shevon believes there is some improvement in their overall play. Last year the pair also made the exit in the quarter-finals.
“We will need to work harder. We need to work on our speed and court coverage. The speed of the Chinese put us under pressure,” said Shevon, adding that they need to also work on their consistency. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
