Kuala Lumpur: The men’s doubles World No. 7 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi triumphed 17-21, 21-13, 21-14 in a gripping second-round battle against World No. 15 Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han of Taiwan on Thursday to secure a ticket to the 2023 Malaysia Open quarter-finals.
After dropping the first game, Ong/Teo dominated the next two games to see off the Taiwanese pair in 85 minutes.
Highlights of Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi vs. Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han in the 2023 Malaysia Open second round:
Ong/Teo will meet the World No. 1 pair from Indonesia, Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the quarter-finals.
Ong said in a post-game interview that they will give their best fight against Alfian/Ardianto in the quarter-finals.
“We use different strategies in different matches due to the wind conditions and so on. We will discuss it with the coach about our strategies in the quarter-finals,” said Ong.
“It’s going to be difficult. We don’t want to think about the semi-finals yet because our focus is to play our best in the quarter-finals,” added Ong.
As for Alfian/Ardianto, they also had to work hard to qualify for the quarter-finals as they faced tough resistance from Mark Lamsfuss/Marvin Seidel of Germany in the round of 16 at the Axiata Arena. After dropping the first game, Alfian/Ardianto came back to beat Lamsfuss/Seidel 8-21, 21-19, and 21-16 in 70 minutes.
After the match, Alfian/Ardianto said they were ready to face Ong/Teo who will get strong support from local fans on Friday.
“Of course, it is not easy because they are playing at their home. So, we need to be prepared especially mentally but the experience of playing here last year will also help us,” said Alfian.
Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto beat Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi 21-13, 21-9 in the 2022 Malaysia Open quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s reigning World Champions Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, former World No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalists Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin were all knocked out of the tournament on Thursday.
