Losing the first set badly, Alfian/Annisa performed more calmly in the second set. Annisa handled the famous Zhao's forward play. Ball positioning who overwhelmed Zhang/Zhao  was Alfian/Annisa's main tactic to grab points.

In the third set, Zhang/Zhao, 2012 London Olympic mixed doubles the gold medalist throttled up, they didn't give a chance for the Indonesian pair to develop their performance as they did in the second set. Leading 6-3, Alfian/Annisa were ironically overtaken as Zhang/Zhao took eight points in a row and led the interval with 11-6 before finally winning the ultimate set.

“Today's opponent was tough enough, it wasn't easy. We rarely played rallies, we lost points in easy balls. Zhang/Zhao's serves and returns were very good. Losing focus slightly meant losing significant points. When we tried to catch up, we lost focus, it kept on that way," Annisa said.

“In the thrid set we lost focus, chasing points ironically made us hasty and rushy. We were playing under pressure. Their attacking clear was good enough. Actually we weren't losing technically, we were just lacking calmness and also experience,” added Alfian.