Surprise package: Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun in action against Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan in the quarter-finals. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
MEN’S doubles pair Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun made a major breakthrough when they stunned Indonesia’s world No. 6 Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan 23-21, 21-17 in the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Masters.
It was the Malaysian world No. 26 pair’s biggest win of their career and their first semi-final appearance in a World Tour Super 500 tournament.
But Wei Chong-Kai Wun are not getting carried away after their upset over the 2019 world champions from Indonesia.
“We watched their gameplay before heading into the match, and when we entered the court, we just tried to play our best game against them,” said Wei Chong.
“This is our breakthrough but we have to work harder because we didn’t perform very well in some aspects.
“We trained really hard and gave our best (in the match) to achieve this result.”
Wei Chong-Kai Wun outplayed Denmark’s world No. 11 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 25-23, 21-16 in the first round on Tuesday before claiming a 19-21, 21-16, 21-13 win over Scotland’s world No. 29 Alexander Dunn-Adam Hall in the second round on Thursday.
These victories indicate that the duo are regaining their momentum after suffering injuries and poor form since bagging the Taiwan Open title last July.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun were forced to withdraw from the German Open, All-England and Swiss Open in March after the former twisted his left ankle in training.
Kai Wun believed that the win is a confidence booster for their upcoming matches.
“We are really happy with the results because they are tough opponents,” said Kai Wun.
“It has boosted our confidence. We not only want to win but also to beat the other top players.
“We will keep the fire burning because we have other tournaments coming up.”
Meanwhile, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi found South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae too hot to handle and went down fighting 21-15, 16-21, 14-21 in another quarter-finals match.
Yew Sin was disappointed that their campaign ended in the quarter-finals.
“It was not easy for us and we tried to hang in there, but too bad that we could not win the match,” said Yew Sin.
“I’m not very satisfied with our overall performance because we have come so far and were desperate to go further.
“Nonetheless, we gave our best and hopefully, our confidence will not be affected.”
Ee Yi suffered a minor injury on his right ankle during the decider.
QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS
(Malaysians unless stated)
Men’s singles: Christian Adinata (Ina) bt K. Srikanth (Ind) 16-21, 21-16, 21-11; H.S. Prannoy (Ind) bt Kenta Nishimoto (Jpn) 25-23, 18-21, 21-13; Weng Hongyang (Chn) bt Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg) 23-21, 14-21, 21-14.
Men’s doubles: Hoki Takuro-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Chang Ko-chi-Po Li-wei (Tpe) 21-18, 21-16; Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun bt Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) 23-21, 21-17; Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi 15-21, 21-16, 21-14.
Women’s singles: Gregoria Mariska (Ina) bt Wang Zhi Yi (Chn) 21-11, 21-14; P. V. Sindhu (Ind) bt Zhang Yiman (Chn) 21-16, 13-21, 22-20; Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Michelle Li (Can) 21-11, 21-14; Han Yue (Chn) bt Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Tha) 22-20, 21-9.
Women’s doubles: Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) bt Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) 21-16, 21-17; Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah bt Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota (Ina) 13-21, 21-19, 21-16; Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara (Jpn) bt Hsu Ya-ching-Lin Wan-ching (Tpe) 16-21, 21-12, 21-16; Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong (Kor) bt Apriyani Rajayu-Siti Fadia (Ina) 21-15, 18-21, 21-16.
Mixed doubles: Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Tarattanachai (Tha) bt Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) 21-8, 21-17; Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping (Chn) bt Kyohei Yamashita-Naru Shinoya (Jpn) 22-20, 11-21, 21-17; Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung (Kor) bt Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas Mentari (Ina) 21-15, 22-20; Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) bt Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith (Eng) 10-21, 21-19, 21-1.
