The top seeds battled for 58 minutes to overcome their much younger opponents Ruttanapak Oupthong-Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat 20-22, 25-23, 21-11.

The Malaysian pair were on the brink of elimination in the second game after losing the first, but managed to save a match point to force a decider.

This makes it the second time in their three encounters so far that the world No 3 have beaten the Thai pair, who are ranked 17th.

In the quarter-final, the married couple will play another strong Thai combination: Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Suppissara Paewsampran, who are the eighth seeds. The two pairs have won twice each in their last four encounters.

In the men’s singles, it was heartbreak for Leong Jun Hao who lost to the higher ranked Japanese player, Kenta Nishimoto, in a marathon match lasting one hour and 40 minutes.

Jun Hao went down fighting 17-21, 22-20, 20-22, saving match points twice in the second and third games which went into deuce.

This is now the seventh tournament where he was knocked out in an early round.

In another match, national women’s singles player Goh Jin Wei, ranked world No 47, performed well in the second round although eventually losing to world No 7 Supanida Katethong from Thailand.

She was leading with two match points in the third game but lost 9-21, 21-18, 22-24 in a one-hour match.

In another mixed doubles tie, Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien lost tamely to the fourth-seeded French pair, Delphine Delrue-Thom Gicquel, 16-21, 10-21 in 31 minutes.