Georgetown: Playing their third mixed doubles match of the day and the fifth match for Tan Kian Meng (two qualification matches in mixed doubles and two qualification matches in men’s doubles), not only that Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing did not feel drained and exhausted, they were rather energetic when they pulled off a huge upset by beating World No. 8 Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto 21-10, 21-16 in the first round of mixed doubles in Malaysia Masters on Tuesday.
The Malaysian pair will take on Ronan Labar/Emilie Lefel from France in the second round. Ronan Labar/Emilie Lefel on the other hand, defeated last year’s US Open and Vietnam Open champions Huang Kaixiang/Huang Dongping of China to advance to the second round.
Prior to that, Chinese mixed doubles pair Zheng Siwei/Li Yinhui produced yet another massive upset of the day when they knocked out World No. 2 and No. 1 seeds Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir with 21-15, 10-21, 21-17 in 47 minutes.
World No. 15 and Malaysia’s top mixed doubles pair also Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying started their campaign on high note at the SPICE Arena, beating Ryota Taohata/Koharu Yonemoto of Japan 21-15, 21-16 to set up a clash with Irfan Fadhilah/Weni Anggraini of Indonesia in the second round.
Meanwhile, Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong, Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong will join Lee Chong Wei to spearhead Malaysia’s challenge to open their 2016 campaigns on Wednesday.
Koo/Tan will play Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi in the men’s doubles first round, while tough first round opponents are await Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong as they have to play the 2013 All England champions Liu Xiaolong/Qiu Zihan of China on Wednesday.
Men’s singles top seed Lee Chong Wei will begin his quest for a fifth Malaysia Masters GP Gold title against Fikri Ihsandi Hadmadi of Indonesia.
