Kuala Lumpur: Indonesia has secured at least one title at the 2022 Malaysia Masters when World No. 3 men’s doubles pair – Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan will set up a final showdown with compatriots and World No. 5 Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto on Sunday.
In the semifinals, Setiawan/Ahsan who won three World Championships in 2013, 2015, and 2019, beat China’s rising young men’s pair Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang 21-19, 21-14 in 37 minutes.
“Thank God we were able to get through the semi-finals. It was not easy but we are grateful to have won the match,” said Ahsan
“The opponents were young and quite strong, especially in terms of their attacks. We were quite overwhelmed too. So we tried to control their speed and rhythm,” added Ahsan.
Setiawan said that being more proactive on the court was the key to their victory.
“The shuttlecock here is quite fast so we have to be more aggressive in attacking. In the second game when we were falling behind at the interval, then we tried to change the tempo of the game to be faster,” said Setiawan.
“Wang Chang is a fast player. He is good at the net. In the future, maybe they can be very dangerous if they gain more experience,” added Setiawan.
The success of Setiawan/Ahsan was matched by Alfian/Ardianto as they overcame tough resistance from World No. 6 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia 21-14, 19-21, 21-10 in another semi-final.
Indonesia also has a representative in the men’s singles final. World No. 45 Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo beat China’s World No. 25 Lu Guangzu 20-22, 23-21, 21-19 to set up an encounter with World No. 13 Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong on Sunday.
In mixed doubles, China’s Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong saved a match-point before surviving a huge semi-final scare to beat World No. 45 Yang Po-hsuan/Hu Ling Fang 20-22, 21-16, 22-20.
“After so many consecutive tournaments, we are not as excited as before,” said Zheng.
“This is a good warning to us so that we need to be more active and stay focused in the final,” added Zheng.
Zheng/Huang will meet World No. 20 Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari of Indonesia for the mixed doubles title.
Meanwhile, An Se Young of Korea will face Chen Yu Fei of China in the women’s singles final while Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan of China are set to clash with Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida of Japan in the women’s doubles final.
