In the first round match played at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin needed only 46 minutes to overcome Taiwan’s Lu Ching Yao-Yang Po Han 21-18, 21-13.
It was their third win against the pair following previous triumphs at the 2017 Malaysia Masters and the 2019 Macau Open.
Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin will next face China’s Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi, the eighth seed of the tournament, on Thursday. Based on previous encounters, they have a 50-50 chance, having defeated Yu Chen-Xuan Yi- twice at the 2022 German Open and the 2022 Malaysia Open.
However the duo, ranked 14th in the world, have also been defeated twice by the Chinese pair at the 2023 Japan Open and the 2024 India Open.
Meanwhile, lady luck failed to shine on two Malaysian pairs in the Super 750 tournament when the country’s top women’s pair Pearly Tan-M Thinaah and men’s doubles pair Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong were shown the exit in the first round.
Pearly-Thinaah lost to China’s Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning 10-21, 10-21 in a 35-minute encounter, the third consecutive defeat for Pearly-Thinaah against the Chinese pair ranked number three in the world, after suffering defeats in the 2024 Malaysia Open and 2024 Indonesia Masters.
Hang Yee-Eng Cheong lost to China’s Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi 16-21, 16-21 in straight games.
Meanwhile, Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei defeated compatriots Hoo Pang Ron and Cheng Su Yin 21-15, 21-17, and will meet Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje of Denmark in the second round.
Ranked ninth in the world, Tang Jie and Ee Wei previously defeated Mathias and Alexandra at the 2023 Sudirman Cup.
In the men’s singles, Jun Hao easily defeated Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan 21-13, 21-16. He will next face either compatriot Lee Zii Jia or the tournament’s seventh seed, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, who will play their first round match tomorrow.
Jun Hao is expected to face a tough challenge against either opponent.
His last match against Ginting ended in a 15-21, 17-21 defeat at the 2024 Indonesia Masters, and he had to withdraw while trailing 7-11 in the deciding set of the 2023 Arctic Open against Zii Jia.