Supak and Supissara bring cheer, Ratchanok stumbles

Supak and Supissara bring cheer, Ratchanok stumbles

Mixed doubles duo Supak Jomkoh (left) and Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand. (badminton photo)
Mixed doubles duo Supak Jomkoh (left) and Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand. (badminton photo)

Thai mixed doubles duo Supak Jomkoh and Supissara Paewsampran secured probably the biggest win of their career when they stunned third seeds Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino in the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Masters on Friday.

The world No.22 Thais defeated the Japanese 23-21, 14-21, 21-18 in 59 minutes in the US$360,000 tournament in Kuala Lumpur.

In Saturday's semi-finals of the World Tour Super 500 event, Supak and Supissara will take on world No.20 Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari of Indonesia who beat Dutch pair Robin Tabeling and Selena Piek 21-14, 21-18.

Supak and Supissara's victory came a day after compatriots and top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai made a shock exit in the last 16.

Supak and Supissara are the only Thais remaining in the Malaysia Masters after Ratchanok Intanon lost in the quarter-finals yesterday.

Eighth seed Ratchanok, who won last week's Malaysia Open, was beaten by South Korean third seed An Se-Young 13-21, 21-13, 21-12 in the women's singles.

In the semi-finals, An will meet Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia who shocked top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 25-23, 15-21, 21-10.

Second seed Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan defeated India's seventh seed PV Sindhu 21-13, 12-21, 21-12.

Tai will next face Olympic champion and fourth seed Chen Yufei of China who edged past sixth seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 21-18, 22-20.

Tai has won the Thailand Open and Indonesia Open this year, while Chen was champion at the Indonesia Masters last month.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT