MS:
Peter Gade mostly in control. Sharp as ever. No sign of headache. He was the second most ecstatic winner of the day, closely matching KKK/TBH. He even threw his racquet into the crowd. During the match, I think he got a slight majority of support from the crowd. (Of course, the Chinese usually have good support in Malaysia, although that has waned due considerably to Li Yongbo, I think.) I was emotionally supporting Peter as well because of his near-miraculous performance after hospitalisation, and also because I feel bad for Chen Hong (who I think would be a bigger foe for Peter to handle) for allegedly being sidelined for the sake of Chinese strategy once again.
MD:
By far the best match of the day, as expected. The match was reminiscent of the SF between the Malaysians and Markis/Hendra. Even the scoreline was the same if I am not mistaken. I thought that Tony/Candra would try to slow down the game, but the match was mostly to see who was faster. And the Malaysians were faster more times than not. Both pairs played very well. The rallies were mostly very exciting and high-tempo. A lot of the game occured at the net. KKK as usual likes to rush things at the net, and TBH proved to be very good at the net also. Tony who is used to controlling the net, marginally lost the net battle. Candra proved to be the weakest among the four, making more unforced errors than usual. KKK made the customary amount of errors due to his habit of rushing the shots (a habit which also wins points). For me, TBH was the revelation. He controlled the game even better than master Tony. His strokes were cool and composed. He knew the best shot before he executed it well. My fellow traveller from Singapore, Nicky (ex-Vietnamese national player who accompanied Loh and me to KL) mentioned that if Tony were to partner TBH, the match would be over very quickly, and I agree. At the end of the second game, after KKK/TBH have opened up a big lead, Tony/Candra staged a comeback, probably due to desperation and also the Malaysians' nervousness. But in the point-a-rally system, once KKK/TBH got one or two more points, it was practically over.