The world No 2 shuttlers defeated the 20th-ranked Jeong Na Eun-Lee Yeon Woo 21-14, 21-9 in a 31-minute match at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium.

It was the fourth time Pearly-Thinaah had beaten their rivals in as many encounters.

In the quarter-finals, they will meet the winners of the match between Taiwanese pair Hsu Yin Hui-Lin Jhih Yun and Nanako Hara-Riko Kiyose from Japan.

It was an otherwise gloomy morning for the Malaysian camp which saw four of its representatives knocked out in the second round.

First to fall were mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin who lost to Thai top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran 21-14, 12-21, 17-21 in 52 minutes.

Independent mixed doubles pair Jimmy Wong-Lai Pei Jing were likewise defeated by Taiwan’s Ye Hong Wei-Nicole Gonzales Chan 17-21, 14-21 in 29 minutes.

In the women’s singles event, world No 41 K Letshanaa gave her much higher-ranked Taiwanese rival Chiu Pin Chian a tough fight before bowing out 22-24, 17-21 in a 52-minute match.

Meanwhile, national men’s singles shuttler Jacky Kok, who is ranked No 77, gave Japan’s world No 13 Kenta Nishimoto a hard fight before losing 20-22, 11-21.

Jacky had a game point in the first game after taking an early 7-0 lead but the experienced Kenta took charge after that to win the match in 40 minutes.

Four national men’s doubles pairs and a women’s doubles pair will also be playing their second round matches later today.