Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto being the only representative of Indonesia who stepped into the final Malaysian Open 2023. The 21-18, 21-17 victory over Kang Min-hyuk/Seo Seung-jae (South Korea) made both of them entitled to advance to the top party.
Playing at the Axiata Arena, Saturday (14/1), Kang/Seo took control at the start of the first game with a 6-3 advantage, then 8-5. However, Fajar/Rian hit back and were only 10-11 behind during the interval.
FajRi’s moment of awakening came after the break. After trailing 11-13 and 13-15, both of them were able to turn ahead to 16-15, and continued to lead until 20-18. Fajar’s smash to the left came in, making the first game won by Indonesia with a score of 21-18.
In the second game, chasing each other’s points until the score was 4-4, but after that Fajar/Rian started to take control. After winning three consecutive points to 7-4, they finally won 11-8 at the interval.
After the break, Fajar/Rian became increasingly difficult to contain and drifted away until 16-11. Kang/Seo added two points to make it 13-16, but Rian’s strike at the net failed to return and changed the score to 17-13.
Fajar/Rian continued to add points up to 20-15, but Kang/Seo didn’t give up and chased them up to 17-20. However, Rian’s jumping smash fell heavily on the Kang/Seo playing field and closed the second game with a 21-17 victory.
In the final round, Fajar/Rian will face Chinese representatives, Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang, who previously won three games 21-16, 11-21, 21-15 over Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (India).
(adp/pur)
