Upset win for Wei Chong-Pearly

Malaysian mixed doubles pair Man Wei Chong-Pearly Tan caused the biggest upset of the day after shocking Indonesia’s fifth seed Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti in round one of the Perodua Malaysia Masters presented by Daihatsu at Axiata Arena, here today. 

Wei Chong-Pearly, who made into the main draw after yesterday’s qualifying round win over another Indonesian pair Alfian Eko Prasetya-Annisa Saufika, combined well to dash the hopes of the world number five pair 21-18, 21-13 in a hard-fought battle which lasted 27 minutes. 

Wei Chong-Pearly were clearly highly-motivated as they took full advantage of their opponents’ errors to gain the upper hand. “We never expected to win over Praveen-Melati as they are currently among the best in the world. We were nervous but the moment we stepped onto the court, we communicated well and supported each other throughout the match.

“We’ve seen them in action prior to this and managed to capitalise on their mistakes especially in netplay. This is a big achievement but then, we’ll have to focus hard for our next match,” said the pair who will be meeting another Indonesian pair Hafiz Faizal-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in the next round.  

Despite having to play in the women’s doubles as well, Pearly remained upbeat and energetic. Partnering Thinaah Muralitharan, the pair cruised into round 2 after defeating fellow Malaysian pair Anna Cheong-Lim Chiew Sien 21-15, 21-10 in 25 minutes. 

Pearly-Thinaah will get a shot at the quarterfinals slot but will have to get past Indonesia’s 8^th seed and top women’s pair, Greysia Polly-Apriani Rahayu in tomorrow’s second round.

In the women’s doubles, Teoh Mei Xing-Yap Ling played convincingly in the first set but had to bow out at the hands of Japanese pair Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida 21-19, 21-14.

In the men’s singles competition, defending champion Son Wan Ho was easily downed out by Chinese ace Chen Long (4) 21-16, 21-14 while sixth seed Jonatan “Jojo” Christie was given a scare and had to dig deep before bundling out last year’s semifinalist Liew Daren of Malaysia 21-10, 16-21, 21-15 in a game which lasted 64 minutes. 

Former champion and 5^th seed Viktor Axelsen booked a clashed against Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto after brushing aside Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto 21-13, 21-8 in just 26 minutes. 

In the women’s singles, third seed Nozomi Okuhara were dragged into a three-setter before winning over Hong Kong’s Yip Pui 21-16, 21-23, 21-13 in a marathon 69-minute battle. 

The Perodua Malaysia Masters presented by Daihatsu is a Super 500 event which runs from 7 to 12 January.  

Tickets ranging from RM49 to RM 289 according to categories (upper, lower, premium) are now on sale. Tickets ranging from RM13 to RM74 are also on sale now for students aged 4 to 18 and those born between 2001 to 2017.

Season passes are also available for the tournament. For further information and enquiries, log on to http://www.myticket.asia/

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