Yew Sin-Ee Yi go for the ‘home smash’
No 7 Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi will bank on the home factor as they seek a back-to-back win over Indonesia’s world No 1 Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the quarter-finals of the Petronas Malaysia Open today.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi had to dig deep before beating Taiwan’s Lu Ching Yao-Yang Po Han 17-21, 21-13, 21-14 yesterday in a thrilling last 16 battle which lasted 85 minutes, which is rather uncommon in men’s doubles.
Fajar-Rian, the runners-up last year, were also stretched to the limit by Germany’s Mark Lamsfuss-Marvin Seidel before triumphing 8-21, 21-19, 21-16 to set up a repeat of last year’s Malaysia Open quarter-final clash. Then Yew Sin-Ee Yi had lost tamely, 21-13, 21-9 to the Indonesians.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi, however, managed to defeat Fajar-Rian 21-10, 17-21, 21-19 in the group stage of the World Tour Finals in Bangkok for their third win in nine meetings against the Indonesians.
And Yew Sin-Ee Yi will be out to make it two in a row with the backing of a strong home crowd at the Axiata Arena.
Ee Yi admitted that it was home ground advantage that helped them to pull through in the nail-biting contest against Ching Yao-Po Hanm, which was their first win in more than four years over the Taiwanese.
“I think the unrelenting cheering from the fans really made the difference for us today,” said Ee Yi.
“It fired us up and made us play better. We definitely need all the support we can get this week.
“It’s already the quarter-finals, and things can only get tougher from now on. We will discuss with our coach and prepare the best we can to face Fajar-Rian.”