Malaysia Open 2024: Hendra/Ahsan Step Into The Following Phase

JAKARTA - Men's doubles pair Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan qualified for the round of 16 of the Malaysia Open 2024.

They qualified after winning two straight games 21-18 and 21-15 against Japan's Akira Koga/Taichi Saito, at Axiata Arena, Wednesday, January 10, 2024.

The couple nicknamed The Daddies were forced to play tight until the middle of the first game. However, after the 12-12 position, their opponent could no longer stop them.

"Surely thank God I was able to get through today's match with a win. The opponent was also not easy, they were strong and tenuous," Ahsan said after the match.

Hendra/Ahsan made preparations for at least three weeks to face this Super 1000 level tournament. The preparation resulted in a satisfactory result in the first round.

Ahsan said that during preparation, he focused on increasing his energy. However, he did not want to reveal what targets to achieve at the Malaysia Open 2024.

"We certainly are still trying because we also don't know what the results will be. However, we want to focus one by one on this Malaysia Open first," he said.

The Daddies are one of two men's doubles representatives who qualified for the second round. They got tickets to the next phase along with fifth seed Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto.

Meanwhile, two other representatives from the men's doubles are confirmed to lift their suitcases early. They are the couple Leo Rolly Carnando/Daniel Marthin and Bagas Maulana/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri.

Leo/Daniel ran aground after losing to the fourth seed from Denmark, Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. Bagas/Fikri lost to India's second seed, Chirag Shetty/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.