Ratchanok Intanon, Busanan Ongbamrungphan and mixed doubles stars Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai cruised into the last 16 round of the US$700,000 Fuzhou China Open yesterday.
Fifth seed Ratchanok knocked out South Korea's Sung Ji-Hyun 21-15, 21-14 in the first round of the women's singles before Busanan joined her in the last 16 after defeating Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark 21-8, 21-17 at the BWF World Tour Super 750 event at Haixia Olympic Sports Center.
Ratchanok will next play Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark, while Busanan will face China's Cai Yanyan. Nitchaon Jindapol, the other Thai player in the women's singles, will meet fourth seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
Dechapol and Sapsiree, fresh from winning their third title of the year at the Macau Open on Sunday, eased past Lee Jhe-huei and Hsu Ya-ching of Taiwan 21-9, 21-15 in their opener. The third-seeded pair will take on Malaysia's Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing for a place in the quarter-finals.
Sapsiree, who is also competing in the women's doubles event, teamed up with Puttita Supajirakul to beat Cheng Chi-ya and Lee Chih-chen of Taiwan 21-5, 21-14 to reach the second round.
None of the Thai men's singles players progressed yesterday.
Sitthikom Thammasin, who won in Macau on Sunday, fell at the first hurdle after losing to Kashyap Parupalli of India 14-21, 13-21. Kantaphon Wangcharoen also went out at the hands of fourth seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark, losing their match-up 12-21, 7-21.
The losses meant there's no Thai left in the men's singles event following Khosit Phetpradab's exit on Tuesday.
Mixed doubles pair Nipitphon Phuangphuapet and Savitree Amitapai lost to Dutch duo Robin Tabeling and Selena Piek 17-21, 11-21 while Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai retired in the second game of their women's doubles opener against seventh seeds Du Yue and Lin Yinhui of China.