KUALA LUMPUR: Breaking through the Great Wall is no easy feat, and Malaysia's independent mixed pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai learned that bitter lesson in the China Open final in Changzhou today.
World No. 12 Soon Huat-Shevon fought their way past two Chinese pairs to reach the final, only to lose 16-21, 21-14, 21-17 in 72 minutes to China's world No. 3 Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dongping.
Earlier, the Malaysians had upset world No. 2 Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin in the quarter-finals and world No. 22 Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi in the semi-finals.
Although Soon Huat-Shevon, in their first Super 1000, stunned the home crowd at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium by winning the first game, Yan Zhe-Dongping turned the contest around midway through the second game and took control.
Soon Huat-Shevon managed to save six match points in a row while trailing 20-11 in the third game, but it was clear that the husband-and-wife pair would not be celebrating today.
The Malaysian duo will need to find solutions, perhaps by sparring with compatriots and world No. 9 pair Chan Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, to ensure higher-quality training in preparation for future encounters with China's formidable mixed doubles pairs.
"China have a strong pool of mixed doubles players, not just in quantity but also in quality. Their training system is excellent, and their pairs are almost on the same level," Shevon told the Badminton World Federation.
"When a country have so many strong pairs, the quality of their training shows in tournaments.
"Although we beat two Chinese pairs in straight games earlier, we knew the final against Yan Zhe-Dongping would be tough.
"We were prepared for them to come hard at us," she added.
Despite the loss, Shevon was pleased with their fight against Yan Zhe-Dongping.
"One thing we did well today was not giving up, even when we were far behind in the third game," she said.
"At 20-11 down, I was holding serve, and instead of focusing on levelling the score, we just concentrated on each rally.
"It actually helped us to play more freely.
"Although things could have been better, we're satisfied despite the defeat. We gave it our all in the final.
"Soon Huat was all over the court, covering every shot and doing his best. Overall, although we had some miscommunication during the rallies, we held our game together and supported each other."
Soon Huat-Shevon pocketed US$70,000 (RM294,000) — their biggest pay cheque to date for finishing runners-up in Changzhou.
For Yan Zhe-Dongping, the victory marked their third title of the season, having already won the French Open in March and the Asian Championships in April.
Soon Huat-Shevon, who won the Swiss Open Super 300 and Malaysia Masters Super 500 this year, must now work on their game and spar with quality pairs to increase their chances of winning titles against Chinese pairs on the World Tour.