Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik fall short in Denmark Open final

Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik lost 21-8, 21-11 to Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri in the Denmark Open men’s doubles final on Sunday. The defeat at the SJF Bank Arena in Odense was the Malaysian pair’s seventh in their last eight World Tour finals.

The world No. 4 pair had reached the title match after beating South Korea’s world No. 1 pair Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae 21-14, 21-18 in Saturday’s semi-finals. But Aaron and Wooi Yik could not carry that form into the final, where Fajar and Fikri denied them a second Denmark Open title.

Another World Tour final slips away

Aaron and Wooi Yik’s only victory in their last eight World Tour finals came at the Singapore Open in June last year. They beat Won Ho and Seung Jae in that title match, but have since struggled to convert deep tournament runs into titles.

Last year, the former world champions finished runners-up at the Malaysia Masters, China Open and Arctic Open. This season, they lost the Malaysia Open, All England and Taiwan Open finals before Sunday’s defeat in Denmark.

Their difficulties in title matches have not been limited to the World Tour. At the World Championships in New Delhi in August, they also finished runners-up after losing the final to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.

Return together brings encouragement

The Denmark Open was Aaron and Wooi Yik’s first tournament back together after months of playing with different partners. Reaching the final on their return, and beating the world No. 1 pair along the way, gave them positives to take from the week despite the result.

They had won in Odense before. In 2023, Aaron and Wooi Yik defeated Fikri and Bagas Maulana to claim the Denmark Open title, which was their maiden World Tour triumph.

What the result means

Sunday’s final showed the contrast in the pair’s campaign: they were strong enough to beat the top-ranked Koreans in the semi-finals, but were outclassed by Fajar and Fikri in the title match. Their run together in Odense was encouraging, while their record in recent finals remains a concern.