PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani stormed into the quarter-finals of the Denmark Open to set up a clash with China’s world champions Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang in their last eight match of the World Tour Super 750 championships.
In the second round played early this morning, the world No 6 pair defeated their much lower-ranked compatriots Chia Wei Jie-Teo Ee Yi 21-18, 21-11 in just 28 minutes at the SJF Bank Arena in Odense.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin, who were first-round casualties last year, face an uphill battle in their last eight match against world No 2 pair Wei Keng-Wang Chang.
The Chinese players have beaten the Malaysians in four of their five encounters, most recently at last month’s Asian Games where Wei Keng-Wang Chang won in straight games.
Meanwhile, mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Chan Wen Tse came close to upsetting China’s world No 6 pair Chen Fang Hui-Guo Xin Wa but succumbed to the experienced duo 23-21, 18-21, 20-22 after a hard-fought 65-minute battle.
Other Malaysians featuring in the last eight stage later today are men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, women’s doubles duo Pearly Tan-M Thinaah and mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing.