SOON HUATH AND SHEVON EYE SCA ALP OF OLYMP IC CHAMPIONS
Soon Huat-Shevon out to savour clash with Olympic champions
PETALING JAYA: National mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie are relishing the opportunity to take on world No. 1 Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia in the final of the Singapore Open.
The Malaysians, who are world No. 8, edged closer to their second title of the season following their German Open triumph in March after exacting sweet revenge over Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai yesterday.
Second seeds Soon Huat-Shevon registered a convincing 21-18, 21-14 win in 40 minutes at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Dechapol-Sapsiree had dumped them out in the first round of the Malaysian Open last month. The Thais also pipped them to the gold medal at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games last year.
“We’re very happy with how we played today. We went into the match well prepared, and together with the right mind set, all that being translated into a solid performance,” said Shevon.
“Losing to Dechapol-Sapsiree on home soil last month was hard to swallow. We’re glad to beat them this time to reach our second final of the season.”
Although they have yet to drop a game this week, Shevon believes she and Soon Huat will start as the underdogs against TontowiLiliyana, who seek to add to their Indonesian Open victory two weeks ago.
Tontowi-Liliyana are also aiming to win their fourth title in Singapore having emerged victorious in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Surprisingly, Soon Huat-Shevon have never crossed paths with the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic gold medallists in any tournament previously.
“We’re very excited to go up against the Olympic champions. It will be a very good experience for us,” added Shevon.
“But we’re not going to show them too much respect. We will try to give them a good fight.”
If Soon Huat- Shevon pull off a stunning win today, they will become the first- ever Malaysian mixed doubles champions since the Singapore Open’s inception in 1987.