World No 2 pair Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin defeated the much lower-ranked Taiwanese pair of Chen Zhi Ray-Lin Yu Chieh 21-19, 21-13 in 30 minutes at the Axiata Arena this evening, showing they are serious contenders for the title.
Earlier, world No 7 pair Wei Chong-Kai Wun defeated their 30th ranked Japanese rivals Hiroki Midorikawa-Kyohei Yamashita 21-17, 21-13 in just 32 minutes.
Asian champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik booked another quarter-final berth for Malaysia by defeating Taiwanese pair Liu Kuang Heng – Yang Po Han in straight games.
They wrapped up the match 21-13, 21-16 in 38 minutes.
The duo will meet Denmark’s Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard who defeated Malaysian pair Kang Khai Xing-Aaron Tai in a tense match that was marred by four poor line calls in the rubber game that went against the Malaysians.
This saw the Malaysian coaches rushing up to the umpire to protest vehemently. The tournament judge had to intervene to cool things down as the crowd started booing the umpire continuously.
The Danish pair eventually won 21-16, 24-26, 21-16 in a match that lasted 66 minutes.
Another doubles pair – Choong Hon Jian-Muhammad Haikal – failed to make it to the next round after losing 14-21, 13-21 to Japanese pair Hoki Takuro- Yugo Kobayashi in 35 minutes.
In another men’s doubles match, Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong went down tamely to world No 1 pair Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 9-21, 12-21.
In the mixed doubles events, no Malaysians will be in the quarter-finals after the two remaining pairs lost their second round matches today.
Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien were easily defeated by Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Suppissara Paewsampran 21-14, 21-9 in 36 minutes.
However, scratch pair Loo Bing Kun-Toh Ee Wei gave Taiwan’s world No 23 pair Ye Hong Wei-Nicole Gonzales Chan a run for their money before bowing out 21-19, 20-22, 18-21 in a match that lasted 65 minutes.
Ee Wei, who was paired with Bing Kun only for the second time ever in this tournament, will be back with her regular partner, Chen Tang Jie, at the Singapore Open next week.
Ee Wei-Bing Kun made their debut in the Taipei Open earlier this month but lost to one of the top Indonesian pairs in three games in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, women’s doubles pair Go Pei Kee-Teoh Mei Xing were defeated by China’s Jia Yi Fan-Zhang Shu Xian 21-6, 21-13 in their last-16 match.