Rio Olympics silver medallists Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying moved into the second round in the USD700,000 Fuzhou China Open through the hard way – coming back from a game down to beat India’ Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Ashwini Ponnappa.
It was a 63-minute battle before the Malaysian seventh seeds prevailed with an 18-21, 21-19, 21-17 win at the Haixia Olympic Sports Center in Fuzhou to earn a second-round clash against Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti who won 21-6, 21-16 against England’s husband and wife team Chris Adcock-Gabrielle Adcock.
The other Malaysian mixed doubles hope Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing in action on Wednesday fell to second seeds Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping of China 15-21, 5-21 in 31 minutes.
In the first round on Tuesday third seeds and Olympic champions, Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir exacted revenge on Malaysia’s Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie for their defeat in the Singapore Open final with a 21-17, 21-19 win.
Malaysia’s interest in the men’s doubles lies in the hands of Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong who play China’s Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan in the second round on Thursday. In the first round, the Malaysians edged Indonesians Berry Angriawan-Hardianto Hardianto 22-20, 21-18.
In the men’s singles privateer, Liew Daren also advanced to the second round with hard fought 18-21, 25-23, 21-6 win over Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen in 52 minutes.
For a place in the quarter-finals, the Malaysian will face fourth seed Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei who was also involved in a marathon 73-minute match before subduing Korean Lee Dong-keun 18-21, 21-16, 21-12.
However, it was the end of the road for another privateer Chong Wei Fern after an 11-21, 14-21 defeat to Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
- Advertisement - 
