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Sze Fei-Izzuddin came out victorious 19-21, 21-17, 21-18 in an enthralling hour-long battle. The victory is the first win for the Malaysian pair in their four meetings with their Chinese rivals, with all their matches going into three games.
In the final tomorrow, they will meet the winners of the other semi-final between Thailand’s new combination Kittinupong Kedren-Dechapol Puavaranukroh and world No 2 pair Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark.
The first game started on a cautious note with the Chinese taking a quick 11-8 lead and increasing it to 17-12. Despite saving three match points the Malaysians lost the game 19-21 in 19 minutes.
In the second game, Sze Fei-Izzuddin started out well taking a 4-0 lead in two minutes, then 7-4 before some unforced errors saw the Chinese pair coming back to lead 8-7 before leading 11-9 at the break.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin came back strongly to take a 13-11 lead, but the Chinese pair rallied back to draw level at 13-13. However, Sze Fei-Izzuddin unleashed some powerful smashes to win the game 21-17 to force a rubber.
They continued their power play in the decider to take a 7-5 lead. After some tight exchanges, the Malaysians took a slender 11-10 lead at the break and went on to win 21-18.
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