KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 13 — Winning the Arctic Open on their debut as a pair last month certainly boosted the confidence of shuttlers Aaron Tai and Yap Roy King, as they pulled off a stunning upset over world No.15 Lee Jhe Huei-Yang Po Hsuan of Taiwan to reach the men’s doubles semi-finals of the Japan Masters today.
World No. 57 Aaron-Roy King needed just 28 minutes to overcome the Taiwanese pair 21-16, 21-12 at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, setting up a semi-final clash against Denmark’s Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard.
The Malaysians will face a tough test in their bid to reach a second final together, with the Danish pair currently ranked 13th in the world.
Lundgaard-Vestergaard disposed of home favourites Hiroki Okamura-Kyohei Yamashita 21-14, 21-14 to set up tomorrow’s last-four clash against the Malaysians.
The Super 500 tournament offers a total prize money of US$500,000 (about RM2.04 million).
