Macau: Malaysia’s No. 8 seeds mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon/Cheah Yee See fended off a surprisingly stiff challenge from Indonesia’s Yantoni Edy Saputra/Marsheilla Gisca Islami, beating the Indonesians 21-13, 21-19 to advance to the second round of the 2017 Macau Open tournament on Wednesday.
“We are happy to win the match because our confidence was shaken after early exits in Europe, and hopefully we are able to continue our momentum tomorrow,” said Chan.
Chan Peng Soon and Cheah Yee See were knocked out in the first round of Denmark Open and Dutch Open last month.
Another Malaysian mixed pair Hoo Pang Ron/Peck Yen Wei also entered the second round by outlasting Yang Po Hsuan/Wen Hao Yun of Taiwan 21-15, 21-18.
Chan/Cheah are set to meet the Malaysia/Indonesia combo of Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif/Rusydina Antardayu Riodingin on Thursday while Hoo/Peck will face No. 6 seeds Seung Jae Seo/Kim Ha Na in the second round.
In men’s singles, the former World No. 2 Kento Momota was pushed all the way by the No. 13 seed Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in his opening match at the Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion arena before eventually beating Lee 21-17, 15-21, 21-15 in 64 minutes.
Momota will take on compatriot Naoki Yamazawa in the men’s singles third round on Thursday.
Malaysia’s independent shuttler Chong Wei Feng also put up dominant showing to overcome Indonesia’s Panji Ahmad Maulana 21-18, 21-14. Chong faces Koki Watanabe of Japan next.
Watanabe on the other hand, battled past another Malaysian shutter Daren Liew 21-14, 21-19 on Wednesday.
