The Singapore Open kicked off with a massive shock on Tuesday. Malaysia's newly formed mixed doubles pair Jimmy Wong-Cheng Su Yin pulled off a stunning first-round upset. They sent China's world No. 1 Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping packing in straight games.

The match was played at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Jimmy-Su Yin won 23-21, 21-16 in front of a stunned crowd. It was only their second tournament together as a pair.

What makes the win even more impressive is their status. The Malaysians don't even have a world ranking yet. They are that new on the scene.

But you wouldn't have known it from their performance. They played with calm and confidence from start to finish. They never looked rattled by the moment.

The first game was the closest of the two. Both pairs traded points before Jimmy-Su Yin held their nerve to take it 23-21. That early win clearly gave them belief.

The second game was a bit easier. The Malaysians pulled away to win 21-16. Their Chinese opponents had no answer.

This was no ordinary win, either. Feng-Huang were last year's World Tour Finals champions. They came in as the top seeds in Singapore.

Now Jimmy-Su Yin will turn their focus to the next round. They will face either India's Rohan Kapoor-G. Ruthvika Shivani or Taiwan's Yang Po Hsuan-Hu Ling Fang. That match is set for Thursday.

"Our Game Plan Is to Be Patient" - Su Yin

So how did this brand-new pair pull off the upset? According to both players, the answer was simple. Patience.

Their partnership only started last month. Su Yin was paired with Jimmy after Hoo Pang Ron left the national set-up. They made their debut at last week's Malaysia Masters.

That first outing didn't go well. They were beaten in the first round by Denmark's world No. 6 pair 21-13, 21-15. So Tuesday's win was a huge bounce-back moment.

Before the match, Su Yin had a clear message for her partner. She knew points would be hard to come by against the world's best.

"Our game plan is to be patient because they are world No. 1, so it will be hard to get a kill," she told the Badminton World Federation. "I said we must be even more patient, whether at the back or the front, because it's hard to win a point."

Jimmy was on the same page. He said the key was staying calm while still attacking when the chance came.

"The key was staying patient because they are strong and the top seeds, so you must be patient and aggressive," he said. "I'm happy because in the last tournament, we didn't play that well."

He also touched on bouncing back from the Malaysia Masters loss. "We just had to forget about the Malaysia Masters early exit and tried to get our form back and we have managed to get it," he added.

Interestingly, Su Yin had faced this Chinese pair before. She reached the China Masters final against them two years ago with Pang Ron. But she kept that experience to herself.

"I didn't share because I was afraid that if I shared more, it would give him more pressure," she said. "So I just told him to play our game."

It worked. And now the badminton world is watching.

Read more at the Ace Badminton Community!

Written by

Sahil Prashar

Edited by

Sahil Prashar