KUALA LUMPUR: Mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai's battle at the World Tour Finals (WTF) is far from over despite their spirited win over Japanese nemeses Hidori Midorikawa-Natsu Saito in Hangzhou today.
World No.21 Midorikawa-Saito went into the match with a 4-1 superior head-to-head record, but world No. 10 Soon Huat-Shevon played brilliantly to pull off a 21-14, 21-14 win in 35 minutes to revive their hopes in Group B.
Soon Huat-Shevon's three-game defeat to compatriots Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei on Wednesday had put them in a precarious position in their bid for a spot in the knockout stage.
Midorikawa-Saito also needed to win to stay alive after losing to Indonesia's world No. 13 Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in three games in their opening match.
This led to a classic battle but the husband and wife team of Soon Huat-Shevon were on top of their game to seal a comprehensive win.
Shevon said the round robin format at the BWF always gives a second chance to every pair, and they remained positive against their opponents today.
"The most important thing was that we managed to keep our mindset positive. This is a round robin format and we know we still have the chance (for semi-finals) despite losing the first match," said Shevon.
"We just focused on winning our own game and were not thinking too much about the outcome of the other match and that, too, helped our performance."
Soon Huat-Shevon will be involved in a shootout against Dejan-Gloria tomorrow for a semi-final spot after the Indonesian pair's 21-17, 21-18 defeat to Tang Jie-Ee Wei in the other group match.
Shevon is ready for another close encounter in the final group match where they will play Dejan-Gloria for the first time.
"Although it's our first meeting, the Indonesian pair should be familiar with our game. This is because the playing styles of Indonesian and Malaysian pairs are almost the same and we need to be well prepared mentally and physically tomorrow," said Shevon.
Soon Huat-Shevon reached the semi-finals of the 2020 WTF, and the Malaysian pair, looking at their current confidence level, may just do it again.