Hong Kong Open: Hong Kong pair Tang and Tse one step from historic win after reaching mixed-doubles final
- Home favourites Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet have easy 21-12, 21-12 win over Malaysian rivals in semi-finals
- Tse Ying-suet says huge home support has driven pair to final and now is time to repay fans
Home favourites Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet reached their first Hong Kong Open final after cruising to a comfortable win over Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai of Malaysia on Saturday.
While the vocal support for the mixed-doubles pair at the Hung Hom Coliseum continued with a packed 6,500 crowd chanting throughout the tie, it was the skills and techniques of Tang and Tse that saw them dominate the match with a 21-12, 21-12 victory in a mere 35 minutes.
Hong Kong’s badminton team have never won a doubles title at home, leaving Tang and Tse on the verge of making history. They will now face China’s Guo Xinwa and Wei Yaxin who beat Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito 21-19, 21-18 in the second semi-final.
Wang Chen clinched a women’s singles title for Hong Kong in 2008, while compatriot’s Angus Ng Ka-long and Lee Cheuk-yiu took gold in the men’s singles in 2016 and 2019 respectively.
“It is too early to talk about the title as we still have the final tomorrow,” Tse said. “But playing in front of the home crowds with family and friendly watching us to reach the final, it’s an amazing job.
“The fans worked so hard to support us and we want to do our best to thank them.”
With a much better head-to-head 6-1 winning record over the Malaysian pair, including 2-0 win in the Thailand Masters in January, Tang said they tried not to think about it during the match to lower the pressure.
“We suffered a slow start in the first three rounds and of course we did not want to see that happen again,” Tang said. “The first game was important as we were able to get into the match very soon and pulled away the score from them.”
In the men’s singles, Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie came through a scintillating semi-final clash with Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong, winning 21-19, 21-23, 21-13, and will face Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in the final.
Hong Kong’s Tang and Tse lead from the start, and although the Malaysians drew level at 4-4, it was as close as they got, with Tang and Tse pulling away to move 15-6 in front before winning 21-12.
The second game was a similar affair, and after a close opening, the Tang and Tse never trailed and at 14-9 in front were too strong for their opponents.
Victory tomorrow would give the Hong Kong duo, who finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, their first title since winning the Korea Masters in 2019.
