Aaron-Roy King, Pang Ron-Pei Jing fall in Hylo Open semi-finals

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's impressive run of winning at least one title at each of the previous three stops of the European swing came to an end after Aaron Tai-Yap Roy King and Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing suffered battling semi-final defeats at the Hylo Open in Saarbrucken, Germany, on Saturday.

The setbacks ended Malaysia's hopes of completing a clean sweep of titles across the four European tournaments, following earlier triumphs at the Arctic Open, Denmark Open and French Open.

Aaron-Roy King, who had been chasing a remarkable second title in just their fourth tournament together, saw their gallant run halted by Denmark's Christian Faust Kjaer-Rasmus Kjaer.

The world No. 74 Malaysians took the opening game but could not sustain their momentum, eventually falling 18-21, 21-15, 21-18 to the world No. 26 Danes in 59 minutes.

The defeat also saw the Danes gain revenge for their straight-games loss to Aaron-Roy King in the Arctic Open semi-finals earlier last month.

Despite falling short, Aaron-Roy King can take plenty of encouragement from their European campaign, having won 10 matches against just three defeats since being paired together.

Their breakthrough Arctic Open triumph was followed by another impressive run in Saarbrucken, where they stunned Indonesia's world No. 7 Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani and Taiwan's world No. 15 Chiu Hsiang Chieh-Wang Chi Lin in successive rounds.

Their performances have also vindicated national men's doubles coach Herry Iman Pierngadi's decision to retain them as a permanent partnership as part of Malaysia's preparations for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Herry recently revealed that the combination was formed with the shorter 15-point scoring system, which comes into effect next January, specifically in mind.

The coach believes the partnership has the qualities to thrive under the new format, with the Olympic qualification race beginning in May next year.

Meanwhile, Pang Ron-Pei Jing also came agonisingly close to reaching another final before losing 22-20, 16-21, 21-17 to France's reigning world champions Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue in a 70-minute battle.

The world No. 24 pushed the world No. 3 French pair all the way, narrowly surrendering the opening game before fighting back to force a decider.

Although their campaign ended in disappointment, Pang Ron-Pei Jing have enjoyed an outstanding spell, reaching four semi-finals or better in their last five tournaments, including runners-up finishes at the China Masters and French Open.

Malaysia's European title-winning streak began with Aaron-Roy King's sensational Arctic Open triumph in Finland before Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah captured the Denmark Open women's doubles crown.

Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun subsequently kept the momentum going with their men's doubles triumph at the French Open last Sunday.