The unseeded Tze Yong took 41 minutes to send Kean Yew, the seventh seed, packing in the tournament held at the Yoyogi First Gymnasium.

Tze Yong will have a chance to slay another former world champion, Kento Momota from Japan, should Momota win against compatriot Koki Watanabe in another opening round tie.

This was Tze Yong’s second victory over Kean Yew following his rubber game win, 15-21, 21-14, 21-11, in the 2022 Commonwealth Games quarterfinal.

Professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia suffered his fourth straight opening round exit, this time at the hands of defending champion Kenta Nishimoto of Japan, 22-20, 17-21, 19-21.

Nishimoto will take on third seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn after the Thai player prevailed against Taiwan’s Wang Tzu Wei 21-5, 21-16.

Another independent shuttler, Cheam June Wei, was outplayed by Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, 7-21, 9-21, in 28 minutes.

Meanwhile, national men’s doubles duo Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani earned a second round spot as they got the better of home duo Ayato Endo-Yuta Takei 21-18, 21-15.

Eighth seeds Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi await Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin next after the Chinese duo edged Keiichiro Matsui-Yoshinori Takeuchi 21-18, 25-23.