Indonesian men’s doubles pair, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon / Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, managed to break the 2019 Japan Open final. The world number one men’s double defeated Chinese representative Li Junhui / Liu Yuchen in the semi-final match at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, Tokyo, Saturday (07/27/2019).
In the match, Marcus / Kevin won the rubber game with score 15-21, 21-11, and 21-18. Thus, Marcus / Kevin will again undergo the All Indonesian Final match against Mohammad Ahsan / Hendra Setiawan who has already escaped first.
Previously, two Indonesian men’s doubles pair also faced each other in the final of Indonesia Open 2019 last week.
The course of the match
The Li / Liu pair appeared impressive by creating five consecutive points at the start of the first game. The sharp shots launched by the pair number two from China were not able to be anticipated by the Minions, nicknamed for Marcus / Kevin.
However, Marcus / Kevin slowly got up. Point by point they created to cut the score margin. The skillful game displayed by Marcus / Kevin made the score reached 9-8, still for Li / Liu. Li / Liu then closed the first game interval at 11-9.
After the break, Li / Liu seemed to find his rhythm again. In addition, Marcus / Kevin also made a number of mistakes which certainly benefited the opposing pair. The first game was finally won by Li / Liu with a score of 21-15.
In the second game, Marcus / Kevin successfully seized momentum. Although they were initially left behind, they then managed to turn 9-8 ahead of Li / Liu. After that, Minion continued its positive trend by recording four consecutive points, which led them to a score of 13-8.
Marcus / Kevin seems to play smarter in the second game. The number of drop shots made can be troublesome for Li / Liu. With such a situation, Marcus / Kevin finally forced the game to proceed to the third game after winning 21-11.
Entering the decisive game, the match runs increasingly fierce. Both Marcus / Kevin and Li / Liu scored a number until the score of the match showed 6-6. However, after that the match rhythm was dominated by Marcus / Kevin. They seemed to appear more confident.
Marcus / Kevin started playing very skillfully and deftly, while Li / Liu made several mistakes. Marcus / Kevi also won 15-10. Li / Liu managed to catch up with the match score 16-16.
However, Marcus / Kevin reacted quickly to get up. Marcus / Kevin finally managed to win the match with a score of 21-18, while ensuring a title from the men’s doubles for Indonesia.
