Ratchanok Intanon and Suppanyu Avihingsanon reached the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Masters at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Fifth seed Ratchanok dropped the first game but recovered to beat Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland 9-21, 25-23, 21-14 and book her place in the last eight against Malaysia's Goh Jin Wei, who defeated Taiwan's Pai Yu-po 21-11, 21-11.
Unseeded Suppanyu marched into the last eight of the men's singles, scraping past Ihsan Maulana Mustofa of Indonesia 7-21, 21-19, 21-19.
The world No.46 Suppanyu next faces Malaysian hope Daren Liew, who overcame Jeon Hyeok-Jin of South Korea 21-17, 19-21, 21-16.
Thailand Masters champion Nitchaon Jindapol was unable to make it through, losing to second seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in three tough games, 21-18, 19-21, 18-21.
In the mixed doubles, Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Puttita Supajirakul crashed out to fourth seeds Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing of Malaysia 16-21, 17-21.
Kittinupong Kedren and Dechapol were due to play Reginald Lee Chun Hei and Tang Chun Man of Hong Kong in the men's doubles late last night.
Meanwhile some of the sport's biggest names have expressed concerns about a new tournament structure requiring players to compete in more events.
The new tour series -- featuring six levels and higher prize money -- kicks off this year and runs until 2021. At least a million dollars is up for grabs in each of its top four events.
But it also requires athletes to compete in more events -- the top 15 singles players and top 10 doubles pairings must take part in 12 a year, an additional two from the previous structure.
This week's Malaysia Masters, which has been upgraded by governing body the Badminton World Federation (BWF), has seen its prize money almost triple to US$350,000 (approximately 11.5 million baht) and attracted many more big names than it had in the past as players seek to fulfil the requirements.
But some complained competing in so many events this year would be a burden, and a string of top players crashed out on the opening day on Wednesday -- world No.2 Lee Chong Wei, five-time world champion Lin Dan and Olympic champion Chen Long.
Lee said he was prepared to pay a penalty to skip an event if he felt he needed to.
"If I have to pay a fine for skipping an event, I will. I'm not 25 anymore, I'm 36 this year," said Lee on Wednesday after losing to Japan's Kenta Nishimoto.
"I don't think BWF will review the format, because if they wanted to, they would have done it."
Denmark's world No.1 Viktor Axelsen, who beat South Korea's Lee Hyun-Il in the opening round, was also critical: "We [would] rather have high quality than too many tournaments where the best players can't perform because we don't have time to train."
Lin, who crashed out in the opening round to Mustofa on Wednesday night, added: "The top players will focus on the big tournaments... If we have to play in so many tournaments, we won't play our best." bangkok post/afp