Koo-Tan continue march towards another European crown

ODENSE: Europe must be Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong’s favourite hunting ground.

Yesterday, the second seeds checked into the men’s doubles final of the Denmark Open by defeating China’s second stringers Sun Junjie-Tao Jiaming 21-14, 21-16 in a lop-sided 23-minute match.

The Malaysians’ final foes will be Denmark’s second seeds Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen, who will surely have the backing of the home crowd.

Yesterday, Boe-Mogensen achieved a breakthrough when they stunned Olympic champions and top seeds Mar­kis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia 21-16, 21-19 in the last four.

If the Danes win, it will be their first home title.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong, who won the Denmark Open two years ago, are seeking their second Super Series title this year after winning the Swiss Open in March.

Kien Keat said they were satisfied with their performances thus far.

“It is great to be in the final of a Super Series again. In the previous Super Series in Japan, we lost in the first round ... it was important to make amends here,” said Kien Keat, who also won the Denmark Open crown with Chan Chong Ming in 2005.

“We are familiar with the Danish pair. They defeated us at the All-England and we had our revenge at the Swiss Open.

“We’ve always enjoyed a good outing in Europe and, hopefully, this good run will continue.”

Boon Heong seems just as determined as Kien Keat to clinch the title again.

“We are just a step away from tasting success in the Super Series and, hopefully, we will come good. It’s never easy playing against a local pair in the final in front of their own fans,” said Boon Heong.

Boe-Mogensen hope to spoil the Malaysian party again in Denmark.

Boe, especially, has an extra reason to make it a special day for the hosts. “I been staying in Odense since I was five years old and it will be really nice to achieve something special here,” said the 29-year-old.

“We have played against Koo and Tan many times and lost most of them. They have a slight advantage but I think the race is still wide open.

“Our (Mogensen and my) best achievement in the Denmark Open is a quarter-final finish and this time it will be perfect to win it.”

In the men’s singles, German Marc Zwiebler’s fairytale run continued when he dumped second seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-10, 16-21, 21-15 in a 62-minute energy-sapping match.

He will take on Indonesia’s Simon Santoso, who ended the gallant run of Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 12:27 PM. Filed under Koo Kien Keat, News, Tan Boon Heong . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0