Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s World No. 12 men’s pair Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin recorded their best performance at the Malaysia Open after confirming a ticket to the semi-finals for the first time on Friday.
Goh/Izzuddin showed unbelievable fighting spirit to come back from 19-20 in the second set to ultimately down the 2022 Indonesia Open champions – Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi of China 21-11, 22-20 in the quarter-finals which took place at the Axiata Arena, Kuala Lumpur.
This was the Malaysian pair’s second consecutive victory over the 45th-ranked Chinese duo after beating the same opponents in the final of the 2022 German Open 23-21, 16-21, 21-14 on March 13, 2022.
“It wasn’t an easy match for us, especially in the second set. It was a bit stressful especially when they were leading and it wasn’t easy to defend their attacks,” said Goh.
“However, we were more patient and didn’t make easy mistakes, it helped us to seize the match from them,” added Goh.
Goh/Izzuddin will face World No. 7 Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in the semi-finals. Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto defeated World No. 10 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi 21-13, 21-9 to advance to the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian fans had an emotional roller coaster ride including happiness, anxiety, exasperation, desperation, and finally joy in the match between World No. 6 Malaysian pair – Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, and World No. 3 Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan of Indonesia.
In the rematch of the Tokyo Olympics bronze medal match, Chia/Soh kept their hope of chasing their first international title alive by beating “The Daddies” 21-13, 20-22, 21-19.
“They were more aggressive today, kept attacking us, while we were mostly on the defensive side,” said Setiawan after the match.
“We have another match tomorrow, we’ll keep our focus, and prepare for our next game,” said Chia after the match.
When Chia/Soh were asked about their semi-final opponents, the World No. 2 Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi from Japan, Chia said they wouldn’t worry too much about their previous records against the Hoki/Kobayashi.
“Head-to-head results were something of a past. Whenever we play a match, we’ll always start from zero. We’ll stay focused in the semi-final,” added Chia.
