Malaysia Open: Home interest ends with Yew Sin-Ee Yi defeat

Ong-Teo were playing the final match of the day at the Axiata Arena, and the crowd’s anticipation were high for the last national representatives.

The Malaysians lifted the home crowd with a bright start as they started on the front foot to force the Indonesians into unforced errors for the lead.

But Alfian-Ardianto turned on the heat in the second game with an attacking display that left Ong-Teo defending for most parts.

The Indonesians levelled the scores, and put enough daylight between them in the deciding match to book a semis showdown against South Koreans Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae.

“We have to be more consistent. They changed their approach after the first game and were more solid. We are satisfied with our performance overall in this tournament. We had two tough matches before this, and didn’t give up in this one,” the pair said.

Viktor Axelsen, meanwhile, stayed firmly on course to defend his title as the Danish ace thumped Japanese Kenta Nishimoto 21-6, 21-12 to book a semis showdown against Kanta Tsuneyama.

Axelsen had sufficient rest after Liew Daren withdrew from their second round clash after failing to recover from a calf injury.

The world number one and top seed said that rest helped him.

“I had two days rest and physically I felt fresh. Kenta played an extra match at a higher pace and he was probably a little tired. I think it will be a challenging match against Tsuneyama. I have to do well to win,” he said.

Japanese rising star Kodai Naraoka, who had beaten both Lee Zii Jia and Ng Tze Yong, continued his gallant run to oust India’s H.S.Prannoy 21-16, 19-21, 21-10 in another marathon match that lasted 84 minutes.

He faces Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the other semi-final encounter.

The women’s singles semis see An Se-young take on Chen Yu Fei and Akane Yamaguchi up against Tai Tzu-ying.