Winny and Tontowi, a former world number one with previous partner Liliyana Natsir, prevailed in a 56-minute survival of the fittest to beat the Malaysians 21-15, 16-21, 23-21.

It was a surprising result from the new duo, who showcased a laudable performance as they fought hard and stubbornly refused to back down while facing the regulars.

As the senior, Tontowi did his job well by pushing the junior player to her limit. Since his former partner Liliyana hung up her racket earlier this year, Tontowi is expected to step up to the plate as a seasoned player nurturing younger shuttlers.

Appearing to play without burdens, Tontowi saved some critical moments and watched out for Winny to stay in the lane.

“I told Winny that it was okay to lose points during critical points when we competed in a big and important match, but we had to stay ready. We were often not ready in today’s match,” said Tontowi as quoted by badmintonindonesia.org.

“We were on the right track in the first game, but we got carried away in the second one. In the third game, our coach reminded us to stick to our strategy like we had done in the first game, and it went really well,” he added.

As the less experienced shuttler, Winny admitted she had made mistakes during some critical points and that she initially felt under pressure to be paired with Tontowi.

“But when I played a match with [Tontowi] I began to feel relaxed, because he is a casual person, especially when telling me what’s best to do,” she added.

Besides Tontowi and Winny, veteran pair Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan in men’s doubles also advanced to the quarterfinals. The former world number one pair defeated Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov 21-19, 21-18.

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