PETALING JAYA: A first title of the year beckons for mixed doubles specialists Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying in the Australian Open in Sydney today.

And national coach Rexy Mainaky hopes that the duo, currently ranked eighth in the world, will deliver when they take on Chen Hung-ling and Cheng Wen-hsing of Taiwan in the final.

Yesterday, Peng Soon-Liu Ying got an easy ride in the semi-finals when their opponents Shintaro Ikeda-Reiko Shiota of Japan conceded a walkover due to an injury to Reiko.

Chen Jin: Has to make the world’s top four to qualify for the Olympics.

Second seeds Hung-ling-Wen-hsing, however, had to go the distance before pulling off an 18-21, 21-19, 21-6 win over Japan’s Kenichi Hayakawa-Misaki Matsutomo of Japan.

If Peng Soon-Liu Ying prevail, it will be their third career Open title adding to the Asian Badminton Championships in India in 2010 and the Bitburger Grand Prix Gold in Germany last year.

Hung-ling-Wen-hsing will not, however, be pushovers as they have won two of their three previous encounters with the Malaysians – Peng Soon-Liu Ying winning at the home tournament in Bukit Jalil in January.

Rexy said that Peng Soon-Liu Ying’s success would depend very much on their net play today.

“We are happy with their fine performances here. Liu Ying did well against the Chinese (He Hanbin-Bao Yixin) in the quarter-finals and continued to be steady. Peng Soon has also been very consistent,” said Rexy in a telephone interview.

“Winning the title would be a timely boost ahead of the Olympic Games in London. A confident play at the net will surely give them the advantage against this attacking Taiwanese pair.”

Meanwhile, China’s Chen Jin took a big step in his bid to break into the world’s top four when he checked into the final with a 22-20, 21-15 win over Indonesia’s Simon Santoso yesterday.

World No. 5 Chen Jin has to make the top four to join countrymen Lin Dan (No. 2) and Chen Long (No. 3) in London. A country can have a maximum of three singles representatives at the Olympics if all of them are ranked in the top four when the qualifying period ends this month.

Former world champion Chen Jin takes on Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam in the final today. He stands a good chance of bagging his second title of the year, having won the Swiss Open last month by beating Lee Hyun-il of South Korea.

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