Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi made it to their first World Tour semi-finals in five months to become Malaysia’s sole representatives at the Kumamoto Masters in Japan, as three other doubles’ pairs were eliminated on Friday.

Ong-Teo needed 43-minutes to overcome Chinese Taipei’s Fang Chih-lee-Fang Jee-lee 21-19, 21-16 in a performance that exhibited their defensive strengths.

The world number 12 pair have been struggling in the last few months as match consistency eluded them since July.

But in this Super 500 event in Kumamoto, the Malaysians are putting together a decent run that has gotten them into the semis.

Ong-Teo will, however, need to be at their best when they take on China’s Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi for a place in the final on Saturday.

They are the only remaining pair after mixed doubles pairs Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing both lost to the highest ranked pairs in straight games.

Chen-Toh went down 14-21, 14-21 against Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong, while Tan-Lai were also no match for Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino who won 21-15, 21-16.

National women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah also saw their campaign come to an end following a 13-21, 18-21 loss against Japan’s Rena Miyaura-Ayako Sakuramoto.

It was nonetheless a good outing for Tan-Thinaah, who made a comeback following a two-month layoff after Tan had recovered from a back injury.

The Malaysian contingent will next head to the China Masters next week.