They say the freshest wounds are the hardest to bear.

And that is perhaps why Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik kept referencing their group stage loss to Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi at the Sudirman Cup last month more than any other during their post-match interview after a hard-fought 21-18 24-26 21-12 KFF Singapore Open 2025 second-round win.

Never mind that the Xiamen defeat was their eighth straight to the Japanese pair – it was the one that stung the most. On Thursday at the Singapore Indoor Arena, they finally healed that scar.

The win, sealed in 63 minutes, was anything but straightforward. Chia and Soh led 19-16 in the second game but let it slip, squandering four match point opportunities at 21-20, 22-21, 23-22 and 24-23. That all-too-familiar sinking feeling threatened to creep back in.

“There were flashbacks about the last match,” admitted Aaron. “You could see it from our inability to convert in the second game. But the coach gave us a lot of motivation in the third and reminded us to forget about that match and just focus on individual rallies.”

Soh called it “a big relief”, acknowledging the mental toll the string of defeats had taken.

“There was definitely pressure because we wanted to win,” he admitted, “but at the same time, we didn’t want to put too much of it on ourselves. We gave our best and fought hard.”

Pressure, clearly, was ever-present – not just from opponents, but from the weight of history. Five of their eight losses since 2021 had gone the distance.

“We just focused on staying in the match because every point against this pair is important,” said Soh of their three faulted serves. “Even though we lost points that way, we felt relieved to have made it through in the end.”

Chia saw the funny side.

“We knew we could have won in Xiamen, maybe just a lack of luck. After the second game today, I got confused about it again,” he said with a laugh.

And laugh they now can, for they have broken the jinx against the pair who had given them the most sleepless nights.

→ Results (Day 3)