Soon Huat-Shevon upbeat despite Singapore Open exit
KUALA LUMPUR: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai may have missed out on a semi-final berth at the Singapore Open, but the husband-and-wife pair were not disheartened by their improved showing following last week's early exit at the Malaysia Masters.
The world No. 5 champions in 2018, were denied by Thailand's Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran in a 19-21, 22-20, 21-17 quarter-final defeat on Friday.
Soon Huat-Shevon were just a point away from sealing the match in straight games, having led 19-17 and held match point at 20-19 in the second. But the Thais dug deep to force a decider and eventually prevailed.
"I think overall we really gave our best," said Shevon.
"Though we weren't on the winning side today, both pairs pushed each other to the maximum. We made some errors at crucial points in the second game and that cost us. We'll learn from this and prepare for tougher matches ahead."
Soon Huat, meanwhile, said a win was always in doubt the moment they dropped the second game, as he had been playing through an injury sustained last week.
"We both knew once we lost the second game, it would be very hard to come back," he said.
"I picked up an injury recently, so continuing to play at full speed and power was difficult. But we still gave it everything we had."
The pair were especially glad to bounce back after a disappointing outing in Kuala Lumpur, where they crashed out in the first round as defending champions.
"Last week was definitely a setback," Shevon admitted.
"We were disappointed not to go further at home, but we stayed positive, and I think this week shows we're getting back on track.
"I'm really proud of my partner. It's been a tough journey for him, dealing with injuries and still putting in the hard work to improve. That's not easy. We're working on regaining our consistency and stabilising our game, just like we did at the start of the year."
Soon Huat-Shevon began the season strongly with back-to-back semi-finals at the Malaysia and India Opens. They are now aiming to claw their way back into the world's top three after slipping two rungs to No. 5 this week.
"Everyone's fighting hard for ranking points," said Soon Huat.
"It's not easy to stay at the top, but we'll focus on each tournament and try to collect as many points as we can."
They now head to the Indonesia Open, a Super 1000 event, before taking a well-earned break after three consecutive weeks of competition.
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