KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — Malaysia’s mixed doubles pair, Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying stormed into the semi-finals of the 2021 All England Championships after beating French pair, Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue, last night.
After a shaky start in the first set, the Rio 2016 Olympics silver medallists pulled off an amazing comeback in the second set and dragged the game into the rubber set to secure a place in the semi-finals today.
The third seeded duo won 17-21, 21-18, 22-20, in 66 minutes at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, to set up a semi-finals date with unseeded Japanese pair, Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo.
Yuki-Misaki advanced to the last four after dislodging Danish pair N. Nohr - A Magelund 21-15, 21-10.
Meanwhile, another national’s mixed double pair, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing failed to progress to the semi-finals when they succumbed to another Japanese pair, Yuta Watanebe-Arisa Higashino in straight sets, 21-17, 21-9.
Earlier, Malaysia’s top men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia upset world number one Kento Momota of Japan to qualify for the semi-finals of the world’s oldest badminton tournament.
Zii Jia beat the top seed Momota 21-16, 21-19 in 55 minutes in the quarter-finals and will take on Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands today.
Newly-crowned Swiss Open champions Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah’s hopes of reaching the last four of the tournament were dashed when they went down fighting to Japan’s Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida, 12-21, 22-20, 16-21.
— Bernama
