Favourites Stumble in Opening Test – WT Finals: Day 1
World champions Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong crashed to one of their quickest defeats this year as their campaign at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2019 started in lacklustre fashion.
· DEV SUKUMAR
Zheng and Huang were evidently below par as they went down to Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, whom they had beaten six times in a row. The Japanese pocketed the Group B win 21-15 21-15 in just 33 minutes.
“They made so many simple mistakes,” said a surprised Higashino.
The second seeds’ quick defeat was the second unexpected result in Group B on the opening day’s second session, after Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja stopped in-form compatriots Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti 21-11 21-19.