KUALA LUMPUR – Husband and wife, Jessica Tan and Terry Hee, hope their run to the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open can be an inspiration to up and coming mixed doubles pairs in Singapore.
Yesterday, the duo stunned sixth-seeded Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand, winning 21-16, 21-19 in 48 minutes to feature in their first Super 1000 semi-finals at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.
Unfortunately, today they lost to the tournament’s seventh-seeds Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun of South Korea 21-16, 21-16 in 41 minutes.
The couple are the sole representatives from the city-state in the top 30 of the world rankings.
Jessica said it was challenging for them to find other pairs to train with in their home country.
“There are not many mixed doubles pairs in Singapore so it is challenging for us as we don’t have many players to train with.
“However, we try our best and do what we can and hope to inspire our juniors coming up,” Jessica told the media after the pair’s debut in a Super 1000 semi-final.
Meanwhile, Terry added that both of them just had to make do with what was available to them.
“We just need to work with what we have and you know train with the men’s doubles pairs. Once in a while we will go overseas for training camps.
“When we go for competitions we will take the opportunity to have training sessions with pairs from other countries as well,” he said.
Speaking on their match against Wan-ho and Na-eun, Terry said that the unforced errors during the match made the difference.
The pair’s next assignment is the India Open starting on Tuesday, but Jessica wants to put this amazing run to the Malaysia Open semi-finals behind her.
“Next week is a new tournament and we don’t want to let our results define us.
“We hope to take whatever positives that we have gained throughout this whole tournament and continue to improve and work on them,” she said. – January 13, 2024