Threshold of history
Duo on verge of becoming first mixed doubles winners in US Open
PETALING JAYA: National mixed doubles ace Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying are on the brink of creating history in the US Open badminton championships.
The Rio de Janeiro Olympics silver medallists are just one win away from becoming the first Malaysian mixed doubles winners since the tournament’s inception in 1954.
Peng Soon-Liu Ying were at the top of their game on Saturday as they took just 34 minutes to whip second seeds Mark Lamsfuss-Isabel Herttrich of Germany 21-16, 21-14 in the semi-finals at the California State University in Fullerton.
It will be their third final appearance of the year. They won the Thailand Masters in January and finished runners- up at the Australian Open last month.
Fifth seeds Peng Soon-Liu Ying will take on another German opponents Marvin Emil Seidel-Linda Efler in the title match.
Seidel-Efler defeated England’s Ben Lane-Jessica Pugh 21-17, 21-8 in the other last-four match.
Liu Ying has vowed to go on to win the tournament after falling short in their previous bid in Australia.
“I really hope we can win our second title,” said Liu Ying.
“This is our second successive final following the Australian Open and we just have to make this opportunity count.”
Liu Ying was also delighted that she and Peng Soon got their game plan right on Saturday and intend to make the best preparation for the final.
“We knew they (LamsfussHerttrich) are going to be a tough nut to crack as we were stretched to three games in our last meeting at the German Open last year,” explained Liu Ying.
“So, we were better prepared against them for this match and I thought we did really well in serving and receiving. We have not played against our final opponents before but have seen them in action. Good preparation and getting your tactics right are always the key to winning matches.”
Meanwhile, women’s doubles Vivian Hoo-Chow Mei Kuan’s hopes of winning their third title of the year were dashed after they went down fighting 17-21, 20-22 to Tang Jinhua-Yu Xiaohan of China.
Vivian-Mei Kuan had the chance to force a rubber but failed to build on the solid 16-11 lead in the second game.
Vivian-Mei Kuan, who are actually a scratch combination, have been quite impressive this year having won the Vietnam International Challenge in March and the gold medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April.