The only remaining Japanese mixed double, Yuta Wantanabe/Arisa Higashino, was trampled by Malaysians Chan Penge Soon/Goh Liu Ying early afternoon at DANISA DENMARK OPEN 2018 presented by VICTOR, losing with a final score of 18-21, 16-21.
The young Japanese mixed double notably won All England against all odds earlier this year, coming into the tournament as major underdogs. Despite of this, bookmakers expected their match against Chan/Goh to be very even.
The beginning of the match was, as predicted, very close, and halfway through the first game, it was near impossible to predict which couple would come away with the win. The world’s nr. 8, Watanabe/Higashino, held an initial lead at 16-13 after a strong run coming out of the break. In spite of this, a well-playing Malaysian pair refused to let up, and managed to turn the game around and steal the game: 21-18.
In the second game, both couples upped their tempo. The Malaysians established an early lead from the very start of the second game, causing the Japanese to always look as if they were a step behind. Many Malaysian points came off unforced Japanese errors and Watanabe/Higashino had a difficult time breaking the Malaysians strong defense. As a result of this, the young Japanese rising-stars went into the break trailing behind the veteran Malaysian couple at 8-11.
Many rallies in the second part of the second game were long and intense, yet, despite of two unrelenting fighters on the other side of the net, the Malaysians managed to stay in control, and in the end, they won rather comfortably off many Japanese errors and can proceed to the quarter finals tomorrow.
Many of the rallies in the last part of the game was long but for the third time in a row the Malaysians could go from the court as the winning couple against the Japanese, which meant that the experienced couple are moving on to the quarterfinals.