Malaysia Open 2023: Hendra/Ahsan Going To Quarter Finals, Minions Terhentiated

JAKARTA - Veteran men's doubles pair Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan stepped into the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Open 2023.

The three-time world champion defeated their junior Pramudya Kusumawardana/Yeremia Rambitan in two straight games 21-19 and 21-17 at the Axiata Arena, Thursday, January 12 evening.

Next, the pair nicknamed The Daddies will meet Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae. The Korean pair qualified after winning over representatives of Chinese Taipei who won the 2020 Olympic gold medalist, Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin.

Hendra/Ahsan, who are the fifth seed, have met Kang/Seo three times so far. All of these meetings took place last year, respectively at the Korea Open, Indonesia Masters, and the Japan Open.

Daddies lost their three-game game in their first two meetings before securing a straight two-game win at last meeting.

Hendra/Ahsan are one of two Indonesian representatives who qualified for the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Open this year. The Indonesian men's doubles that had previously qualified were Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto.

As many as four representatives, including Pramudya/Yeremia, were eliminated by Daddies.

Besides Pram/Yeremia, the men's doubles ticket also failed to be obtained by Leo Rolly Carnando/Daniel Marthin, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, and Bagas Maulana/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri.

Kevin/Marcus still could not avenge the defeat of the pair Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang. The Minions surrendered 22-20, 12-21 and 19-21.

Meanwhile, Leo/Daniel were helpless when they met Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. They lost 13-21 and 9-21.