JAKARTA – Indonesian men's doubles Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon managed to penetrate the quarter-finals of the All England 2022. This ticket was won after the first-seeded pair defeated the Japanese representative, Akira Koga/Taichi Saito.
Kevin/Marcus had to fight for more than an hour after losing the first set at the Utlita Arena Birmingham, England, on Thursday, March 17, evening Indonesian Western Time (WIB), to pocket tickets to the next round. The Minions also escaped with wins 15-21, 21-18, and 21-18.
"Today the opponent played very well and didn't die easily. Lucky we can win. I had a little pain in my ankle. Pretty annoying, but I just tried to force it," said Marcus in an official statement received by VOI.
In the quarter-finals, the pair who are familiarly called Minions will meet representatives of India, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty. On paper, Kevin/Marcus are still ahead of the fifth seed with a 10-0 record over their potential opponent.
VOIR éGALEMENT:
The two pairs last met at the Indonesia Open in 2021. At that time, the Minions came out victorious in a match in straight sets.
Apart from Kevin/Marcus, another Indonesian double, Bagas Maulana/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri, also successfully advanced to the quarter-finals.
They made a surprise by defeating the eighth seed from Malaysia, Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi, in the rubber game 24-22, 13-21, 21-17.
"In the first game, we were lucky to be able to turn the numbers around when they played the first points, in the second game we lost our tempo and died a lot. In the third game, try to focus more on finding points one by one, trying to be calmer on the field," said Fikri.
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