PETALING JAYA: National mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai marched into the semi-final of the Kumamoto Masters championship in Japan by defeating home pair Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito 21-16, 21-13.
The husband-wife team ranked No 10 in the world took 35 minutes to overcome the world No 20 Japanese pair at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium this morning.
This is the first time that Soon Huat-Shevon have beaten Hiroki-Natsu in their five meetings so far. This is also the fifth semi-final appearance for the Malaysians this year after going through a lean period last year.
In the semi-final tomorrow, they will play up and coming Thai pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh- Supissara Paewsampran who defeated Malaysian pair Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin 21-17, 21-16 in another quarter-final match.