National mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai are emotionally and mentally exhausted.
All they want is to try and regain last season’s form.
Last season, the pair won the German Open and the Singapore Open, and also broke into the world’s top 10.
Yesterday, the struggling Malaysian pair reached the quarter-finals of the China Open after defeating eighth seeds Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith of England 18-21, 21-17, 22-20 in the second round.
Soon Huat-Shevon play this year’s World Championships runners-up Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in the last eight today.
“To be honest, no one knows how tough it has been for us in the last few months.
“Soon Huat suffered a series of injuries and I was left without a partner. Everything we had built just came crashing down.
“Our communication broke down, our combination on court turned bad... it was painful,” Shevon lamented.
Things started to go downhill for the for national No 1 pair after their semi-final appearance at the All England in March.
Soon Huat suffered a series of injuries, including a hamstring tear that ruled him out for the entire month of June.
When Soon Huat-Shevon eventually returned to competitive action, it was already in the thick of Olympic qualification.
“It’s not easy, that is why I am grateful to have made it this far.
“We are far from our best but we are slowly getting there. Our communication has improved and I'm happy to see Soon Huat slowly getting his rhythm back,” Shevon added.
In the men’s doubles, national No 2 Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi continued their impressive run by reaching the quarter-finals following a 21-18, 14-21, 25-23 success over World No 8 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark.
The Malaysians will face the winners of the match between former world champions Li Jun Hui-Liu Yu Chen of China and Indonesia's Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pangkaryanira-Ade Yusof Santoso next.
Independent duo Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong also checked into the next round but not before slogging for a 21-13, 22-24, 27-25 win over another Danish duo Mathias Boe-Mads Conrad Petersen.
The Taiwan Open champions will take on top seeds and World No 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia next.
Malaysia’s interest in the men's singles ended when Liew Daren lost 21-12, 21-19 to Japan Kanta Tsuneyama in the second round.