Malaysia Open 2023: Third Seeds Swept, Apriyani/Fadia Challenge First Seeds in the Semifinals

The pair Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti. (Photo: Twitter/@INABadminton)

JAKARTA - Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, who are the only women's doubles representatives for Indonesia at the 2023 Malaysia Open, have won a ticket to the semifinals. This result was achieved after overthrowing the representative of South Korea, Kim So-yeong/Kong Hee-yong.

Efforts to win Apriyani/Fadia in the quarter-finals were not easy because their opponents this time were the third-seeded women's doubles.

However, Apriyani/Fadia's struggle at the Axiata Arena, Malaysia on Friday, January 13th paid off. They managed to get rid of the South Korean representative in a battle for 62 minutes with points 22-20 and 21-15.

Since the first game, Apriyani/Fadia's appearance was quite convincing by securing points first and winning ahead of the interval. They also managed to lead with a score of 11-9.

After the break, efforts to secure points were easier to do, even though there was a little resistance from Kim/Kong Apriyani/Fadia closing the first game with a score of 22-20.

Continuing in the second game, Apriyani/Fadia's performance declined and fell behind towards the second interval. But when the points were three points away, Apriyani/Fadia was able to catch up and lead 11-9 over their opponents.

The point record was a big capital for Apriyani/Fadia who immediately stepped on the gas with a winning score of 13-9. After that, several points were carefully collected again by the representatives of Indonesia, Kim/Kong were actually held back and failed to catch up until Apriyani/Fadia excelled in the second game with a score of 21-15.

This result brought them into the semifinals to challenge the first seeds, Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan. The Chinese representative qualified for the semifinals of the Malaysia Open 2023 after defeating the Bulgarian representative, Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva.

In the quarter-finals, Chen/Jia won through fierce resistance for 50 minutes which ended with a score of 21-17, 21-17.

Apriyani/Fadia's steps in the Super 1000 tournament have been steep from the start because before the quarter-finals they also had to face the fifth seed.