KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — Malaysia’s top mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying edged closer to claim their third international title of the season after advancing to the final of the Mexico City Grand Prix (GP) Gold Badminton Tournament yesterday (Sunday Malaysian time).

The second-seeded pair who bagged the Polish Open in March followed by the Russian Open Gold GP in July, defeated Singapore’s Danny Bawa Chrisnanta/Vanessa Neo Yu Yan, winning in straight sets 21-14, 21-13.

They will meet the fourth seeds, Solgyu Choi/Eom Hye Won for the title after the South Korean pair earned a hard-fought 21-15, 18-21, 21-13 win over Nico Ruponen/Amanda Hogstrom of Sweden in the other semifinal.

However, Malaysia’s campaign in the men’s and women’s doubles ended. Top women’s pair Vivian Hoo Kah Mun/Woon Khe Wei, who were the top seed, lost 16-21, 21-23 to Shizuka Matsuo/Mami Naito of Japan.

Second seed Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong, fresh from their maiden title, the United States Open the previous weekend, went down 19-21, 18-21 to Thailand’s unheralded pair Bodin Issara/Nipitphon Puangpuapech.

Malaysia’s campaign in the men’s singles ended yesterday after former 2011 world junior men’s singles shuttler Zulfadli Zulkiffli lost 12-21, 12-21 to Japanese veteran Sho Sasaki in the quarterfinal.

Malaysia did not send a representative in the women’s singles of the US50,000 (RM214,424) tournament. — Bernama