Soon Huat-Shevon stun home favourites while Pearly-Thinaah advance to quarter-finals in Jakarta
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai produced a sparkling performance in mixed doubles to silence the home crowd with a straight-game win over home favourites and world No 9 Jafar Hidayatullah-Felisha Alberta Nathaniel Pasaribu in the second round of the Indonesia Open Badminton Championships in Jakarta today.
The husband-and-wife combination of Soon Huat-Shevon, ranked 12th in the world, were in their element as they took 41 minutes to send Indonesians packing 21-15, 21-19 at Istora Senayan.
The win, their first over the Indonesians after three previous defeats, sees Soon Huat-Shevon book a spot in the quarter-finals of the Super 1000 tournament.
Soon Huat-Shevon will meet either India’s Rohan Kapoor-Gadde Ruthvika Shivani or France’s Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue in the last eight.
Meanwhile, it was business as usual for top Malaysian women’s doubles pair and second seeds Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah as they delivered a composed and consistent performance to overcome Taiwan’s Hsu Ya Ching-Sung Yu-Hsuan 21-18, 21-19 to check into the quarter-finals.
In the quarter-finals, world No 2 Pearly-Thinaah will face either compatriots Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting or Japan’s Rui Hirokami-Sayaka Hobara.