Pearly-Thinaah, who have secured a spot at the World Tour Finals next month, beat Aiso Mikoto-Niimi Momoha 18-21, 21-9, 21-17 in a match lasting 53 minutes.

They will face either Japan’s Moe Aoki-An Uesugi or South Korea’s Jeong Na Eun-Lee Yeon Woo in the second round tomorrow.

The Malaysians are the top seeds in the Kumamoto Masters,  a World Tour Super 500 tournament being played at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium.

Earlier, independent mixed doubles pair Jimmy Wong-Lai Pei Jing continued their fine form when they defeated higher-ranked Taiwanese duo Lu Ming Che-Hung En Tzu 21-19, 21-15.

For Jimmy-Pei Jing, who have entered seven finals in World Tour second-tier events this year, this is their best performance in a Super 500 series.

They will face either New Zealand’s Edward Lau-Shaunna Li or Taiwan’s Ye Hong Wei-Nicole Gonzales Chan in the second round.

National singles shuttler Jacky Kok, ranked No 77, sprang a  surprise by defeating India’s world No 39 Kiran George 22-20, 21-10 to set up a meeting against Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the second round.