KUALA LUMPUR – National men’s doubles favourites Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are one step closer to the final after crushing Taipei’s Chang Ko-Chi-Po Li-Wei at the last eight round of the Malaysia Masters today.
They worked up quite a good sweat as it was a point-by-point match from the start of the game but managed to stay consistent with their tactics and scored 23-21, 21-16 in 46 minutes.
“We played much better today because we were more patient and managed our pressure.
“Realising tomorrow is going to be a tougher fight, we just tell ourselves that tomorrow is the real challenge and psyche ourselves to stay calm,” Aaron said.
They will face Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto tomorrow, which will be their sixth meeting against the fifth-ranked duo.
They lost twice to them in the last two tournaments – the 2022 Thailand Open and the Swiss Open.
“They were quite a strong pair. What we did was adapt during the first set and focused on how to stretch the game,” Wooi Yik explained.
Their victory gives Malaysians hope to clinch the Malaysia Masters title again for the first time since 2013, which was won by Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah.
Earlier, national men’s doubles Junaidi Arif-Muhammad Haikal Nazri were no match for Indonesia’s favourites Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto as they were thrashed in the quarterfinal of the Malaysia Masters today.
Despite the huge score gap in the first set, 21-10, the Malaysians did their best to try and keep up with their fifth-ranked opponents.
The latter, however, proved to be unbeatable and won the second set 21-16 in the 30-minute match.
Malaysia also suffered another defeat after mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie lost against China’s Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong 21-10, 21-14 in just 26 minutes.– The Vibes, July 8, 2022
