French Open 2026: Hoo-Lai Beat No.6 Seeds to Reach Final
World No. 31 Pair Make Their Second Final of the Year After Straight-Games Win Over Guo Xin Wa-Chen Fang Hui; Top Seeds Feng-Huang or Hosts Gicquel-Delrue Await
Malaysian mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron and Lai Pei Jing continued their run at the French Open, a Super 750 event, by reaching the final. They beat China’s sixth seeds Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui 21-13, 21-9 in 31 minutes in the semi-final at Arena Grand Paris today.
It is their second final of the season. They also reached the final of the China Masters in September.
Ranked 31st in the world, the Malaysians played with energy throughout. They took the first game 21-13 and ran away with the second 21-9. It was the first meeting between the two pairs.
The semi-final win follows a series of tough matches. In the Round of 32, they beat China’s Gao Jia Xuan and Wu Meng Ying 14-21, 21-15, 21-15, coming back after losing the first game. In the quarter-finals, they beat Germany’s Marvin Seidel and Nguyen Thuc Phuong, a pair who had already knocked out ninth seeds Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai and Chinese second seeds Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin. That quarter-final finished 21-17, 20-22, 21-18.
Pang Ron said after the quarter-final that reaching a second consecutive semi-final was something he had never done in his career, and credited his partner. That second semi-final came a week after the Denmark Open.
The pair have only played together since May. Pang Ron is 28, and Pei Jing is 34, and they have impressed against younger and higher-ranked opponents. It was their third Super 750 semi-final of the year, after the Denmark Open and the China Masters.
The Malaysians will now wait for the winner of the other semi-final, between China’s top seeds Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping and the home pair, fourth seeds Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue. Gicquel and Delrue were bronze medallists at the 2025 World Championships in Paris. The final is on Sunday, October 25.
Pang Ron and Pei Jing will be chasing their first title of the season. The result also shows they can compete with the world’s elite pairs, and it should help them move up the world rankings.
Credit Photo : China Masters
