KUALA LUMPUR: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik took another step towards their fourth title of the season after advancing to the China Masters semi-finals with a 21-19, 21-18 win over Indonesia’s Leo Rolly Carnando-Bagas Maulana in Shenzhen on Friday.
The world No. 2 held firm in the closing stages of both games to edge out the Indonesians and book their eighth semi-final appearance of the year.
“I think the main point today was that we focused a lot on our gameplay, especially the first three shots. We didn’t dwell too much on mistakes because they will happen, but we kept our focus. I think we handled the crucial points quite well,” Wooi Yik told Badminton World Federation.
Aaron-Wooi Yik will next face India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty in what promises to be another intriguing battle between two of the world’s top pairs.
It will be their 16th meeting, with the Malaysians holding an 11-4 head-to-head advantage.
However, Satwik-Chirag, coached by former Malaysian international Tan Kim Her, claimed victory in their most recent encounter at the World Championships in Paris, where they denied Aaron-Wooi Yik a medal with a painful quarter-final defeat.
“Of course they’re tough opponents, and familiar ones too. We just have to give our best tomorrow and see how it goes,” Wooi Yik added.
Aaron said: “Our performance is getting better after each round. I wouldn’t say we’re really satisfied yet, but it was definitely better than the last two matches.”
“Hopefully, we can do better tomorrow.”
The Malaysians will be eager to avenge that setback and push for what would be their sixth final of the season, having won the Asia Championships, Thailand Open and Singapore Open.
They also finished runners-up at the Malaysia Masters and China Open.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
