Lee Meng Yean-Yap Cheng Wen picked up their second win as a new pair as they won their grueling Indonesia Open opener.
At 79 minutes, their 21-12, 19-21, 26-24 triumph over Danish duo Alexandra Boje-Mette Poulsen was one of the longest matches played on Wednesday at the second event held in Bali.
The victory meant the new pair went some way to rectifying their mistakes from the first-round loss against European opponents at the Indonesia Masters last week.
“The points were tight, and we needed to trust ourselves to win this one. I think we managed to solve some of the problems from the Indonesia Open which earned us victory.
“Our weakness before this was lack of strength. Last week we played against much taller European opponents and they got the edge by pushing the shuttle to the baseline which we did not return well. We will continue to improve and have a clear gameplan to face taller players,” said Lee.
It had not been easy for Lee, who went from 12th on the world rankings to 134th with Yap, following Chow Mei Kuan's post-Tokyo Olympics retirement.
Lee-Yap next face Bulgarian sisters Gabriela-Stefani Stoeva in the second round.
Another new pairing Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien also came through after a 15-21, 21-8, 21-10 victory over their Indonesian opponents, but set to face a tough test against third seeded Thais Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajonglai next.
Malaysia’s interest in the men’s singles, meanwhile, ended after Liew Daren lost 14-21, 15-21 to sixth seed Jonatan Christie in 35 minutes.
This was the fourth consecutive first-round defeat for Liew, who turned 34 this year.
In the mixed doubles, Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See were no match for third seeds Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino as they lost 18-21, 12-21.
