Terry Hee, Tan Wei Han win Orleans Masters mixed doubles final for 3rd title in 6 months

[SINGAPORE] National shuttlers Terry Hee and Tan Wei Han captured their 3rd title in 6 months, and their 7th title together after beating Indonesia's world No 49 Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Lisa Ayu Kusumawati 21-12, 16-21, 21-13 in the Orleans Masters mixed doubles final on Sunday (Apr 3).

For their triumph at the Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 100 event, the married couple picked up a cheque for US$7,110 and are set to climb again from their current world ranking of 86th.

They were ranked as high as 15th in 2017 before Tan suffered injuries and Hee enlisted for national service in 2019. They had slipped to as low as 808th in December 2018.

But they were on fire in France this past week. In the earlier rounds, they despatched France's 75th-ranked William Villeger and Anne Tran, and England's 50th-ranked Callum Hemming and Jessica Pugh.

They then overcame Hong Kong's world No 189 Reginald Lee and Ng Tsz Yau in the quarter-finals and then France's 82nd-ranked Fabien Delrue and Vimala Heriau in the semi-finals.

In the final, their experience showed against a pair of 22-year-olds. With Tan covering the front court admirably to set up Hee's smashes from the back, they raced to a 11-2 lead, with their opponents in disarray, before claiming the first game.

However, the Indonesians found their rhythm in the second game to set up a rubber game.

It was a closely fought decider before the interval but the Singaporeans then came out with all guns blazing from 11-9 to take 8 out of the next 9 points with some clever placements, and gave themselves a healthy buffer they never relinquished.

Since tying the knot on Oct 2, and returning to competition as a duo in the same month, Hee, 26, and Tan, 28, have been in blistering form.

They won the lower-tier Czech Open in the second tournament back, before clinching their first Super 500 event at the India Open in January before this latest victory. They also reached the semi-finals at the lower-tier Dutch Open and Belgian International, and the last 16 of the Swiss Open in March.

The pair will now move on to the Apr 5-10 Korea Open, a Super 500 event, where they will meet unranked South Koreans Shin Tae-yang and Chang Ye-na.

Other Singaporeans who will feature in South Korea include Yeo Jia Min, Jaslyn Hooi, Loh Kean Hean, Danny Bawa Chrisnanta, Andy Kwek, Jin Yujia and Crystal Wong.

World champion Loh Kean Yew will remain in Singapore to recover and train as he was quarantined in England and could not train in March after testing positive for Covid-19 at the All England Open. THE STRAITS TIMES