Winding road ahead

The Star

2 days ago

Payback time: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik beat Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun by edging them 22-20, 21-17 in the quarter-finals.
PETALING JAYA: Men's doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik believe they are currently enjoying one of the best stretches of their career after storming into the semi-finals of the Singapore Open.
Yesterday, the duo exacted sweet revenge on their Malaysian Masters conquerors Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun by edging them 22-20, 21-17 in the quarter-finals.
This will be Aaron-Wooi Yik's third straight semi-final appearance in as many weeks, following strong campaigns at the Thailand Open and Malaysian Masters.
In Bangkok, they clinched the Thailand Open title by defeating Denmark's William Kryger Boe-Christian Faust Kjaer in the final. They came close to adding a second title at the home Masters last week but fell to Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun in the final.
Aaron-Wooi Yik are now determined to add another podium finish to their impressive run but must first overcome a tricky semi-final hurdle today against India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty.
On paper, Aaron-Wooi Yik hold the advantage in both world ranking and head-to-head record, having won nine of their 12 meetings against the Indian pair, who are currently ranked No. 27.
However, Aaron is not taking anything for granted, especially after Satwiksairaj-Chirag's impressive win over world No. 1 Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin in the quarter-finals.
'I think they might have been dealing with some injuries recently, so we haven't seen them much in action this past month. That makes it harder to gauge their current form,' said Aaron.
'It doesn't matter what happened in previous matches this is a different situation. For now, we just want to focus on performing our best against Satwik and Chirag and see what happens tomorrow,' added Wooi Yik.
Aaron-Wooi Yik credited their recent form to the guidance of new coach Herry Iman Pierngadi, whose influence has brought stability and confidence to their game, although they admit there's still more work to be done.
'I think we've been consistent before this as well, but this time it feels different, maybe because we've improved and become more mature. There's still a lot of room for improvement, especially since this is just the beginning with our new coach. It's a new journey, and we need to be well prepared for what's ahead,' said Wooi Yik.
As for the quarter-final win over Wei Chong-Kai Wun, Wooi Yik felt that it was not much different from their Malaysian Masters final last week, except that this time, they were more consistent throughout the encounter.
'I don't think there was much difference because we're teammates, right? We know each other very well. It really comes down to who plays better in the moment. I think today we played better and were more consistent compared to them, so there wasn't much separating us,' he said.