Kien Keat-Boon Heong reach Swiss Open final for third time
News 9:24 AM
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong proved that Basel is their favourite hunting ground when they reached the final of the Swiss Open for the third time in superb fashion yesterday.
Yesterday, the world number one pair and top seeds fought brilliantly for a 21-13, 28-26 win over Denmark’s Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen in a 41-minute semi-final match.
They will take on the winner of the match between South Koreans Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong and Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata of Japan next and has a good chance to emerge victorious.
Kien Keat-Boon Heong had struck it right twice in Basel before when they emerged as the champions in 2007 and 2009.
Yesterday, the Malaysians were awesome and showed better urgency in their game compared to their weak performances a week ago when they lost to eventual All-England champion Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark in the opening round.
From the start, the Malaysians’ ruthless attacking form and solid defence saw them winning the opening game without much trouble.
There were however, greater resistance in the second game from the Danes.
Despite trailing 14-18, the Danes fought back and saved several match points before bowing out 26-28 against the more determined Malaysians.
National doubles chief coach Rexy Mainaky was happy that Kien Keat-Boon Heong did not become the second Malaysian pair to lose to the Danes.
In the opening round, the All-England runners-up had beaten Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif.
“Koo and Tan have been in great form here. It is nothing like how they played at the All-England. They are more focused.
By reaching the final, they have made up for the painful defeat at the All-England,” said Rexy in a telephone interview yesterday.
”I have had heart to heart talk with these players and my approach is certainly working.
“Koo and Tan are able to show their real characters on the court.
RESULTS
Quarter-finals
Men’s singles: Du Pengyu (Chn) bt Hu Yun (Hkg) 24-22, 21-17; Peter-Gade Christensen (Den) bt Lin Dan (Chn) 21-16, 21-17; Chen Jin (Chn) bt Nguyen Tien Minh (Vie) 21-16, 21-11; Chen Long (Chn) bt Kazushi Yamada (Jpn) 21-16, 21-11.
Men’s doubles: Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong (Kor) bt Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen (Den) 16-21, 22-20, 21-8; Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt Guo Zhengdong-Xu Chen (Chn) 21-12, 14-21, 21-17; Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata (Jpn) bt Chen Hung-ling-Lin Yu-lang (Tpe) 21-17, 29-27; Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (Mas) bt Kim Ki-jung-Shin Baek-cheol (Kor) 21-17, 21-14
SEMI-FINALS
Men’s singles: Chen Jin (Chn) bt Du Pengyu (Chn) 21-15, 21-6
Men’s doubles: Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (Mas) bt Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den) 21-13, 28-26.
Women’s singles: Wang Shixian (Chn) bt Ella Diehl (Rus) 21-13, 21-10
Women’s doubles: Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna (Jpn) bt Ha Jung-eun-Lee Kyung-won (Kor) 13-21,21-19, 22-20.
Mixed doubles: Shin Baek-cheol-Yoo Hyun-young (Kor) bt Thomas Laybourn-Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Den) 12-21, 21-15, 24-22.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 9:24 AM.
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