KUALA LUMPUR: Singapore's husband-wife pairing of Terry Hee and Jessica Tan could not have asked for a better start to the year after advancing to the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open — a feat they proudly hailed as the "best-ever achievement" as a pair.
The world No. 22 delivered a spirited performance, defeating Thailand's Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai 21-16, 21-19 to secure their maiden Super 1000 semi-final spot at the Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil on Friday.
"We're in disbelief. We're certainly happy to reach our first-ever Super 1000 semi-final," said Jessica.
"We're thrilled with our performance, and how we challenged our opponents."
Despite their earlier success at the 2022 India Open Super 500, Terry said: "This is our best-ever achievement on the World Tour.
"We won the India Open two years ago, but this week's season-opening Malaysia Open boasts a strong field with all the top players competing in this event for Olympic qualifying ranking points.
"We entered the tournament with a modest target of reaching the last 16, but here we are."
Their strong outing this week is expected to hand Terry-Jessica a significant boost in their quest to become the first-ever Singapore mixed pair to qualify for the Olympics.
Terry-Jessica are No. 19 in the Race to Paris rankings but are No. 13 among those who have provisionally qualified.
However, this position is not guaranteed, as the last three out of the 16 tickets for the Paris Games are reserved for pairs from Pan America, Africa, and Oceania.
"I believe we will see a climb in the rankings. We must maintain and build on this momentum, accumulating as many points as possible before the qualifying period concludes in April."
"We hope to make history."
Terry-Jessica will take on South Korea's Kim Won Ho-Jeong Na Eun, who upset China's top seeds Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong 21-11, 18-21, 21-17, in the semi-finals tomorrow.
The other semi-final will pit China's Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin and Japan's second seeds Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino.
Zheng Bang-Ya Xin defeated world champions Seo Seung Jae-Chae Yu Jung of South Korea 21-19, 21-14, while Watanabe-Arisa overcame compatriots Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito 21-14, 21-8.