On fire Aaron-Wooi Yik smash their way into China Open final
PETALING JAYA : National men's doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik stormed into the China Open men's doubles final and stayed on track for their first World Tour Super 1000 title after defeating an Indian pair.
World No 2 pair Aaron-Wooi Yik displayed superb power and defence to overcome the nippy 12th ranked Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty 21-13, 21-17 in a semi-final match lasting 41 minutes.
They will take on Indonesia's surprise package Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Shohibul Fikri in the final. The Indonesians are playing together for only the second time.
Today's semi-final victory is the 11th time that Aaron-Wooi Yik have beaten the Indian pair in 14 encounters.
The Malaysians, who are two-time Olympic bronze medallists, also set a record by being the first men's doubles pair in the world to qualify for the finals of a World Tour Super 1000 event six times.
They will be making their second appearance in the China Open final after finishing as runners-up in 2023 and will be gunning for their fourth title this year after having won the Thailand Open, Singapore Open and the Badminton Asia Championships.
The tournament offers a total prize money of US$2 million (RM8.4 million), with winners in the doubles events taking home US$148,000 (RM624,000) and the runners-up US$70,000 (RM295,146). The losing semi-finalists will each get US$28,000 (RM118,000).
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