Taipei: The revitalized Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong were setting sights on ending their 8-month title drought at Chinese Taipei Open as they have advanced to final of the BWF World Tour Super 300 event on Saturday.
The No. 4 seeds Malaysian pair outlasted Denmark’s Mathias Boe/Mads Conrad Petersen 18-21, 21-11, 21-12 in the semi-final at Taipei Arena and will take on Korea’s Choi Solgyu/Seo Seung Jae on Sunday.
According to Goh, their opponents played well in the first set especially in terms of strategy and movement on the court.
“Then in the second set we changed our playing style by attacking more, and it worked,” said Goh.
Goh told reporter that they have not played in the finals for very long time and wanted to prove they have been working hard despite being professional.
“I hope we can win another 300 level title (after winning the Thailand Masters in January),” added Goh.
Although Choi/Seo were not a seeded pair, but they shouldn’t be taken lightly as they pulled off a huge upset three weeks ago in World Championships second round by overcoming World No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia 16-21, 21-14, 23-21. On Saturday, they managed to save two match points against No. 2 seeds Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan, wrapping up the semi-final match 19-21, 25-23, 23-21 in 77 minutes.
In mixed doubles, No. 1 seeds Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying were stopped in the semi-finals by Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong 10-21, 17-21.
It was Chan/Goh’s third consecutive losses to the Hong Kong pair, as they lost to Tang/Tse at the quarter-finals of 2018 Malaysia Masters, and the quarter-finals of 2018 World Championships.
Meanwhile, men’s singles No. 1 seed Chou Tien Chen was pushed to the limit by Indonesian player Shesar Hiren Rhustavito before rallied from a set down to beat Rhustavito 23-25, 21-10, 21-13. Chou will play Heo Kwang Hee of Korea in the final, while Sung Ji Hyun of Korea will battle Michelle Li of Canada for the women’s singles crown.
