It was a day of mixed fortunes for Malaysia in the quarter-finals in the USD170,000 Barcelona Spain Masters on Friday on a day when men’s doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and men’s singles professional Liew Daren stayed alive to make the semis.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, the number two seeds, marched into the semi-finals with a straight-games 21-18, 21-13 win over German sixth seeds Mark Lamsfuss-Marvin Seidel in 30 minutes. In the last four, the Malaysians will face Danish fourth seeds Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen who downed Lee Jhe Huei-Hsu Ya Ching 21-11, 21-12.
Daren, a former Thomas Cupper, continued his winning ways at the Vall D’Hebron Olympic Sports Centre when he staged a remarkable comeback after losing the first game 16-21 to Denmark’s fifth-seeded Rasmus Gemke to win the next two 21-17, 21-17 in a 67-minute battle.
He takes on another Dane – top seed Viktor Axelsen – for a place in the final. Axelsen defeated compatriot Jan O Jorgensen with an easy 21-8, 21-5 win in only 25 minutes. Daren was a semi-finalist at the Malaysia Masters last year.
Most disappointing for Malaysia was the defeat of top seeds Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie in the mixed doubles. The Malaysians went out to unseeded Koreans Kim Sa Rang-Kim Ha Na 18-21, 18-21 in 37 minutes.
Also shown the exit was the women’s doubles Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean. The fourth seeds could not sustain their momentum and lost 21-15, 14-21, 19-21 to England’s sixth seeds Chloe Birch-Lauren Smith after toiling for 68 minutes. RIZAL ABDULLAH
