Sze Fei-Izzuddin banking on beginners luck to end eight-year title wait

PETALING JAYA: First timers Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani continued their magical run in the World Tour Finals by reaching the men’s doubles final – and are on the verge of ending an eight-year wait for a title.

In a nail-biting semi-finals, Sze Fei-Izzuddin displayed nerves of steel to save six match points to come away with a hard-fought 17-21, 21-16, 27-25 victory over world No. 4 Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in a match lasting 81 minutes in Hangzhou yesterday.

And they are on the brink of ending the country’s title wait after becoming the first Malaysian pair to reach the final in the tournament since Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong captured the crown in 2016.

Standing in their way to the title will be either Denmark’s world No. 3 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen or another Indonesian pair, world No. 11 Sabar Gutama-Moh Reza.

They have lost to the Danish pair in the recent group match and that was their seventh defeat in nine meetings. Their record against Sabar-Moh stands at 1-1.

An ecstatic Sze Fei thanked the fans.

“It was a very tight match and all credit to the fans, who were cheering for us,” Sze Fei told the Badminton World Federation.

The independent pair started off slowly against Fajar-Rian and struggled to get into their groove and lost out in the first game.

Sze Fei-Izzuddin though came back firing to take the second game but found themselves again on the backfoot in the decider. They were behind 7-11 and 10-14 but fought back repeatedly to keep themselves in contention.

In the end, Sze Fei-Izzuddin impressively handled the pressure to grab the narrow win. It was only the duo’s fourth win over Fajar-Rian in 12 meetings.

China Open champions Sze Fei-Izzuddin also came out on top over the Indonesians en route to their title wins in the Japan and Arctic Opens.

“It was a great journey for us this year but the journey is still going on and we have to focus on our next match,” said Sze Fei. Izzuddin said: “I just played like nothing to lose and we thought better to lose than not try anything risky. It was all about our mental aspect in the end. We needed to be brave during the last few crucial points.”

The world No. 7 now have an opportunity to cap a brilliant year with their biggest title so far and US$210,000 in prize money.