Fadia/Lanny's Never Give Up Spirit

KUALA LUMPUR, THURSDAY – The expression "third time lucky" aptly represents the struggle of Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti/Lanny Tria Mayasari in facing one of the world's top women's doubles pairs, Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida. After losing in two previous encounters, Fadia/Lanny triumphed over the Japanese badminton players in their third attempt.

Like the two previous meetings, Fadia/Lanny had to work hard for more than an hour when facing Matsuyama/Shida in the second round of the Malaysia Masters tournament at the Axiata Arena, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday (22/5/2025). They even came close to losing for the third time after dropping the first game and trailing in the second game, before ultimately winning against the second seeds with a score of 19-21, 21-19, 21-15.

The Indonesian women's doubles team, ranked second, fell behind by a margin of five points in the second game, specifically at positions 5-10, 6-11, and 12-17. Nevertheless, the Thailand Masters champion refused to give up. Following the principle that athletes always uphold, they continued to fight until the match was truly over.

Fadia/Lanny equalized the score to 17-17, then seized three consecutive points after trailing 18-19. The winning momentum in the second game was maintained in the following game, and Fadia/Lanny emerged victorious against the bronze medalists of the 2024 Paris Olympics after competing for one hour and four minutes.

Although lasting more than one hour, the match was the shortest in the encounter between Fadia/Lanny and Matsuyama/Shida. The two previous encounters, in the first round of the Kumamoto Masters and the 2024 Uber Cup, lasted one hour and six minutes and one hour and twelve minutes, respectively.

For Fadia, hard work in the second round led her to the quarterfinals in two events. She also won the second round of mixed doubles that took place on Thursday morning. Partnering with Dejan Ferdinansyah, Fadia eliminated the fourth-seeded Chinese pair, who are the All England champions, Guo Xin Wa/Chen Fang Hui, with a score of 21-15, 24-22.

"We already know their playing pattern. Alhamdulillah, even though there was a chase in the first game, we managed to win the first game. At the beginning of the second game, I made many mistakes. I tried to focus and control my emotions to manage the game," said Dejan.

Since pairing up in January 2025, the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Masters have been the farthest journey for Dejan/Fadia in tournaments above the Super 300 level. In the India Open, Indonesia Masters, and Thailand Open, they were eliminated in the first or second round.

With increasingly tough opponents in the quarter-finals, Fadia must maintain her physical condition, focus, and emotional state. Moreover, the Malaysia Masters marks her fourth consecutive championship since the mixed team event, the Sudirman Cup, in China, from April 27 to May 4. Except for the Taiwan Open, where she only competed in mixed doubles, Fadia has consistently played in two events at the Sudirman Cup, Thailand Open, and Malaysia Masters.

In the women's doubles quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters, Fadia/Lanny will face Jia Yi Fan/Zhang Shu Xian (China). In the mixed doubles, Dejan/Fadia will also compete against the Chinese players, Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi.

In addition to Fadia/Lanny, Indonesia's women's doubles has successfully advanced two other pairs to the quarter-finals, namely Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma/Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi and Apriyani Rahayu/Febi Setianingrum. The quarter-final match against the eighth seeds, Hsu Yin Hui/Lin Jhih Yun (Taiwan), will be the first for Apriyani/Febi since their debut at the Taiwan Open two weeks ago. Between the Taiwan Open and the Malaysia Masters, they competed in the Thailand Open but were eliminated in the first round.

Two other mixed doubles pairs, Amri Syahnawi/Nita Violina Marwah and Verrell Yustin Mulia/Lisa Ayu Kusumawati, lost to players from China. Nevertheless, Amri/Nita were still able to see the positive side of their performance when facing the world’s second-ranked pair, Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping. Meanwhile, Verrell/Lisa lost to the seventh seeds, Cheng/Zhang, with scores of 15-21, 18-21, who will compete against Dejan/Fadia in the quarter-finals.

The performance of Amri/Nita when they lost with a score of 21-19, 11-21, 11-21 was better compared to when they met in the semifinals of the Thailand Open last week. At that time, one of the seven mixed doubles from the main national training center lost 18-21, 13-21.

"I am grateful to be able to showcase the skills I have trained for all this time, so I can understand my quality and where I stand. There are many aspects I need to improve in terms of technical skills and confidence in implementing strategies," said Amri.

In the singles event, Indonesia is left with only Putri Kusuma Wardani in the women's singles after Alwi Farhan lost to Weng Hong Yang. Nevertheless, Alwi managed to push the senior player from China to play three games with scores of 21-19, 16-21, 17-21.

Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo was also eliminated in the second round after losing to Kodai Naraoka with scores of 11-21, 16-21. This marked Chico's debut as a professional player after withdrawing from the national training camp last week. He competed in the Malaysia Masters without a coach.

Putri will face the world number three player from China, Han Yue, in the quarter-finals. This will be their fifth meeting, with Putri having lost all four previous encounters. In those four matches, Putri was only able to win one game when they met in the second round of the 2023 Hong Kong Open.

However, Putri can bring her experience from competing in the Sudirman Cup. When Indonesia faced Thailand, Putri defeated Pornpawee Chochuwong, the world number seven player who had always beaten her in their previous eight encounters.