Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong produced one of their finest performances in recent times by storming into the Yonex Thailand Open final after beating Leo Rolly Carnando-Daniel Marthin in a 29-minute victory on Saturday.
The 2016 Olympic silver medalists next meet Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin, who ousted South Koreans Choi Solgyu-Seo Seung-jae 15-21, 21-14, 21-14.
The world number 14 were in a class of their own against their younger Indonesian opponents, with Tan decisive in the front court and Goh dominating the back court throughout the tie.
The Malaysians held a 20-14 lead in the opener, before allowing their opponents to claw five consecutive points in a brief nervy display.
Once they crossed the line for the advantage, there was no looking back as the former world number one used their experience to dictate the tempo and notch arguably their easiest win so far.
Goh said turning independent taught the pair many important lessons.
“Last year was so difficult, we had zero income. We had to maintain ourselves and we have families, the question was how to manage. We are still learning,” he told the Badminton World Federation.
The last time the duo made a final was at the Korea Masters in 2019, where they incidentally lost to Lee-Wang.
The women’s singles saw Carolina Marin brush aside South Korea’s An Se-young 21-18, 21-16.
Greysia Polli-Apriyani Rahayu made the women’s doubles final after beating South Korea’s Lee So-hee-Shin Seung-chan 15-21, 21-15, 21-16.
The mixed doubles final pits the meeting of the top two seeds between Thais Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai and Indonesians Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti.
Dechapol-Sapsiree beat South Korea’s Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yujung 17-21, 21-17, 22-20, while Praveen-Melati beat French duo Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue 21-16, 23-21.
