Yokohama: Malaysia’s World No. 9 mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei, World No. 10 women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan, men’s doubles World No. 17 Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun and World No. 20 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi have advanced to the top 16 of the 2024 Japan Open on Wednesday.
The No. 7 seeds Chen/Toh, defeated Taiwanese duo Liu Kuang Heng/Jheng Yu Chieh 21-19, 21-14 in the first round, and will face the world-ranked 24th Danish duo Mads Vestergaard/Christine Busch next.
Chen/Toh were the second Malaysian mixed doubles pair to advance to the top 16. On Tuesday, the World No. 15 Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing also made it through the second round. However, another Malaysian mixed pair, the No. 8 seeds Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai were eliminated by Chinese youngsters Cheng Xing and Zhang Chi 12-21, 18-21.
China’s No. 2 seeds Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin swept the Japanese Kaneko Yusuke and Matsutomo Misaki 21-10, 21-10 in two games, and will face another Japanese duo Hiroki Midorikawa/Natsu Saito in the next round. Meanwhile, silver medalists from the 2024 Paris Olympics, Kim Won Ho/Jeong Na Eun were eliminated by the Thai duo Supak Jomkoh/Supissara Paewsampran 18-21, 14-21.
In women’s doubles, the World No. 10 Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan battled for 58 minutes in three games, narrowly eliminating Hu Ling Fang/Jheng Yu Chieh from Taiwan 21-17, 22-24, 21-11. Tan/Muralitharan will face Julie Finne-ipsen/Mai Surrow of Denmark on Thursday.
The men’s doubles saw Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi who missed the 2024 Paris Olympics, return to competition at this week’s Japan Open after a four-month break since the Asian Badminton Championships in April. They easily defeated the Danish duo Daniel Lundgaard/Mads Vestergaard 21-14, 21-13, securing a second consecutive victory against the Denmark pair. Ong/Teo are set to meet compatriots Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun in the second round.
