Aaron-Wooi Yik overcome Indonesian bogeymen to keep Malaysia Open dream alive [WATCH]

KUALA LUMPUR: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are one match away from becoming the first local pair to reach the Malaysia Open men's doubles final in 12 years after producing a masterclass at the Axiata Arena on Friday.

On Friday, world No. 2 Aaron-Wooi Yik faced a daunting task as they were the last Malaysian hope in the quarter-finals and also came up against Indonesian bogey pair Sabar Karyaman-Moh Reza Isfahani, but rose to the occasion with a superb 21-11, 21-10 win in just 34 minutes.

Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah won the men's doubles title in 2014, and no local pair have even reached the final of the Super 1000 event since then.

The pressure had mounted after world No. 5 Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun were shown the exit by South Korean world No. 1 Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae (21-17, 21-14), while mixed doubles world champions Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei were also toppled by Hong Kong pair Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet in earlier matches.

Aaron-Wooi Yik survived some nervy moments early in the first game to not only secure their first semi-final appearance at the tournament since 2022 but also avenge their loss to Sabar-Reza at the Thailand SEA Games team and individual finals last month.

"I am really happy with our performance today. First of all, we have to thank our fans as their support helped us to play with confidence," said Aaron.

"Our loss to them was last year. When we entered the court, we didn't think about the previous head-to-head or things like that. We just fought.

"We hope that we could improve our best achievement in the Malaysia Open (semi-finals). But need to take it step by step. It's another (tough) day tomorrow and we need to focus and fight until the end."

Wooi Yik said that they just kept their focus and did not think too much, although all hopes rested on their shoulders to keep Malaysian interest in the tournament.

"We just wanted to keep going with the momentum. Although we were the only ones left, there was no pressure and we just have to remain focused and do our part as the seniors in our team," said Wooi Yik.

Aaron-Wooi Yik will face another Indonesian obstacle as they play world No. 8 Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri for a place in the final on Saturday.

Aaron-Wooi Yik

trail 2-1 in the head-to-head record but defeated Fajar-Shohibul in their last meeting at the World Tour Finals group stage in Hangzhou last month.

A victory would make them the first Malaysian men's doubles pair to reach the final since Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah, who went on to win the title in 2014.

The other men's doubles semi-final will be between Won Ho-Seung Jae and England's world No. 16 Ben Lane-Sean Vendy.

RESULTS

Quarter-finals:

(Malaysians unless stated)

Men's singles: Shi Yu Qi (Chn) bt Lee Cheuk Yiu (HK) 21-10, 21-7; Anders Antonsen (Den) bt Kenta Nishimoto (Jpn) 21-9, 21-12; Jonatan Christie (Ina) bt Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) 21-17, 21-13.

Men's doubles: Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae Kor) vs Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun; Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik vs Sabar Karyaman-Moh Reza Isfahani (Ina); Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri (Ina) bt Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) 21-10, 23-21; Ben Lane-Sean Vendy (Eng) bt Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) 22-20, 21-19.

Women's singles: Wang Zhi Yi (Chn) bt Putri Kusuma Wardani (Ina) 21-17, 21-18; Chen Yu Fei (Chn) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 21-13, 21-14; An Se Young (Kor) bt Line Kjaersdfeldt (Den) 21-8, 21-9; P. V. Sindhu (Ind) bt Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) 21-11, rtd.

Women's doubles: Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee (Kor) bt Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilysa Trias Puspitasari (Ina) 13-21, 21-19, 21-13; Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) bt Hsu Yin Hui-Lin Jhih Yun (Tai) 21-11, 21-17; Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Ririna Hiramoto-Kokona Ishikawa (Jpn) 21-15, 21-12; Jeong Na Eun-Lee Yeon Woo

(Kor) bt Kaho Osawa-Mai Tanabe (Jpn) 21-10, 21-15.

Mixed doubles: Tang Chun Man-Tse ing Suet (HK) bt Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei 21-17, 17-21, 21-10; Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin (Chn) bt Presley Smith-Jennie Gai (US) 21-16, 21-13; Jasper Toft-Amelie Magelund (Den) bt Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) 21-12, 8-21, 21-19; Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping (Chn) bt Guo Xin Wa-Chen Fang Hui (Chn) 21-16, 21-9.