Malaysia enjoyed a productive day at the China Masters as several pairs booked their places in the quarter-finals of the prestigious Super 750 tournament in Shenzhen.
Men’s doubles pair Tee Kai Wun-Yap Roy King continued their farewell campaign in impressive fashion, defeating Indonesia’s world No. 30 Ali Faathir Rayhan-Devin Artha Wahyudi 21-16, 21-19 in 34 minutes at the Shenzhen Arena.
The China Masters marks the final tournament for Kai Wun and Roy King as a partnership, with Kai Wun set to team up with Aaron Chia at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games later this month.
Their partnership endured a challenging start, suffering first-round exits at the China Open and Taiwan Open. However, they bounced back strongly at last month’s Korea Masters, where they claimed the title to become the only Malaysian men’s doubles pair from the national setup to win a tournament this season.
They will now face Japan’s Takumi Nomura-Yuichi Shimogami in the quarter-finals as they look to end their partnership on another high.
An all-Malaysian semi-final could be on the cards if Kai Wun-Roy King and Soh Wooi Yik-Aaron Tai both advance. Wooi Yik and Tai stunned China’s world No. 10 Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi, last year’s World Championships silver medallists, 21-13, 21-18 earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, world No. 29 Nur Azriyn Ayub-Tan Wee Kiong reached their first Super 750 quarter-final since last year’s Denmark Open after overcoming compatriots Chia Wei Jie-Teo Ee Yi 21-18, 16-21, 21-17.
The experienced pair will meet either Denmark’s Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard or Indonesia’s Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani in the last eight.
Malaysia also secured two quarter-final spots in mixed doubles.
World No. 11 Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai had to dig deep before defeating Japan’s world No. 21 Akira Koga-Natsu Saito 21-14, 19-21, 21-10.
There was an even bigger upset from world No. 85 Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing, who stunned China’s world No. 9 Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi 24-22, 21-19.
However, it was disappointment for Malaysia in the women’s singles as K. Letshanaa failed to produce the improved performance she had targeted against China’s world No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi.
Wang needed just 31 minutes to end Letshanaa’s campaign, cruising to a 21-10, 21-8 victory.
With several Malaysian pairs still alive in the draw, the country remains in contention for a strong finish at the China Masters.
