Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei shook off their dispiriting opening loss at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2023 to beat Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino, the only top 10 pair they hadn’t yet beaten apart from No.1 duo Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong.

The Malaysians, making their debut at the season finale, had appeared downcast following their 38-minute loss to Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping yesterday, but today they were fired up and at their aggressive best against the Japanese world No.2. From 14-all in the third the Malaysians stepped it up, reeling off the last four points to take the match 12-21 21-16 21-16 and stay in the hunt for a semifinals place.

“Today we did a really good job, it’s never easy against them,” said Chen. “If you lose focus or get scared to do things, they will win the point very quickly. So we are proud of ourselves. I have to thank my partner, she really believed in me.”

“I was mentally down after yesterday’s loss,” said Toh Ee Wei. “Of course I never thought too much, I just went all out. I’m happy with the win, because there were a lot of expectations from people and we fought through the pressure.

“We’ve never beaten them before, and the last two matches were straight games.”

Malaysia though had mixed luck, with Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik falling in the match of the day to Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi.

The third game in particular was a high-intensity, neck-and-neck battle, with no more than a point separating the two pairs from 12-all. The Malaysians had their noses in front at the very end, holding match point at 20-19, but the Chinese somehow managed to rein them in and convert their own first opportunity.

“Our performance today was okay, but luck wasn’t on our side,” said a downcast Aaron Chia. “We had a big lead in the second game. They were clearer on what they wanted to do. Even though we lost, we still have one match left, we will give our best.”