The hope of Malaysians taking their first doubles title in Jakarta since 2008 ended in disappointment as Wei Chong-Kai Wung, ranked world No 20, went down in 55 minutes to the world No 2 pair from China.
Wei Chong-Kai Wung’s second-place finish made them the second Malaysian pair in two years to lose at the final since Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were defeated by Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty of India last year.
The Indonesia Open final was the first final in the Super 1000 series for Wei Chong-Kai Wung after playing in five tournaments. It was a major step forward for the pair, who last won a major title in 2022 at the South Korea Open.
Wei Chong said after the match: “We still have a lot to learn, especially in terms of confidence and mentality. We weren’t bad in this tournament,” Bernama reported.
The pair had got off to a sensational start when they toppled South Korea’s world champion pair of Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae in the first round.
Wei Chong-Kai Wung have yet to beat the China pair of Wei Keng-Wang Chang in four meetings in the past two years.
Kai Wung said: “In the first game, they just followed our playing style. In the third game, they changed their strategy and we couldn’t get the points. We will now prepare for the Japan Open and South Korea Open.”
Wei Chong-Kai Wung and the Chinese pair were evenly placed when the match began, but the Malaysians raced to 11-10 in four minutes before a point-for point battle led to Wei Chong-Kai Wung taking the match at 21-19 in 15 minutes.
In the second match, the Chinese pair appeared nervous, after taking an early 4-2 lead in two minutes. However, Wei Chong-Kai Wung bounced back quickly to draw level at 5-5 and then switched to some attacking play to the joy of the crowd, taking an 8-6 lead which they extended to 11-8 at the breather.
However, the Chinese pair came back strongly after the break and managed to tie the score at 15-15 before winning 21-16 in 22 minutes to force a rubber game.
In the decider, the Malaysians appeared to be a pale shadow of themselves, trailing 11-5 in just five minutes. They attempted to make a comeback but the Chinese pair were in no mood for compromise as they smashed their way to win 21-12.
As runners-up, Wei Chong-Kai Wung took home US$45,000 (RM211, 267) in prize money while the winners, Wei Keng-Wang Chang, took home US$96,200.