Soon Huat-Shevon come frustratingly close to beating China's world No. 1

KUALA LUMPUR: Veteran mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai rued their missed opportunity after agonisingly coming close to securing a famous win over China's world No. 1 Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping at the India Open quarter-finals on Friday.

World No. 10 Soon Huat-Shevon battled gallantly but were left to play catch-up throughout the match before their heartbreaking 21-19, 19-21, 21-18 defeat in 75 minutes in New Delhi.

The independent pair fought back from 19-13 to 19-18 before losing a close 21-19 in the first game. The second game was a similar struggle as they scored seven consecutive points from 16-9 to draw level at 16-16, but romped home this time at 21-19 to force the decider.

Soon Huat-Shevon were in the match until 14-14, but Yan Zhe-Dong Ping were composed at the crucial points to edge the neck-and-neck battle and seal their semi-final spot.

Winless after five career meetings, Shevon was particularly gutted after coming so close to upsetting the top pair.

"Definitely frustrating because it looked like we were almost reaching for the win and (ended up) losing like that," said Shevon.

"We have been through quite a few matches like that — tougher ones than this — where we were at match point, but we couldn't take the match. It hurts every time we lose like this.

"But it's a motivation that we are not far behind and we can still make it.

"Although we trailed most of the time, we managed to catch up and win the second game, and that was a small bonus."

It was a much better effort compared to the Malaysia Open, where the pair lost in the second round after Shevon suffered food poisoning last week.

Yan Zhe-Dong Ping, who won the Malaysia Open, will meet Thailand's world No. 4 Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran in the last four.