Thai hopeful Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk cruised into the second round of the inaugural Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters 2016 at Bangkok's Nimibutr Gymnasium yesterday.
Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in action in the first round.
In the first round of the men's singles at the US$1.2 million Grand Prix Gold tournament, the world No.33 Thai took a comfortable 21-11, 21-13 win over Ivanudin Rifan Fauzin of Indonesia.
Today, he faces Hadmadi Ihsandi of Indonesia or Khanjani Farzin of Iran in the second round.
Tanongsak is targeting a win here to earn points to qualify for the Rio Olympic Games in August.
Top seed Lee Hyun-Il of South Korea easily made it into the second round with a straight-set win over Shreyansh Jaiswal of India and will meet Zulhelmi Zulkiffli of Malaysia in the second round today.
The world No.19 Lee is seeking his second title in the Kingdom after his success at the Thailand Open 2015.
Second seed Son Wan-Ho of South Korea defeated Lin Guipu of China (21-15, 12-21, 21-6).
Thailand's Kantawat Leelavechabutr and Kantaphon Wangcharoen also booked their places in the second round.
Another Thai player Boonsak Ponsana was due to face Luka Wraber of Austria in his opening match last night.
In another development, world No.2 Saina Nehwal, who won a bronze medal for India at the 2012 Olympics, made a late withdrawal from the tournament, claiming she has an Achilles injury.
Nehwal has yet to play this year. A couple weeks ago, she skipped the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold due to illness.
In the absence of top-seeded Nehwal, local hopefuls, including Ratchanok Intanon and Busanan Ongbumrungpan, stand better chances of winning the title before the home crowd.
Nehwal had been drawn to face Busanan in the quarter-finals. Ratchanok is in opposite half of the draw.
In the women's singles today, Ratchanok starts her campaign today against Lee Jang-Mi of South Korea while Busanan takes on Wang Iris of Malaysia.
Nitchaon Jindapol faces eighth seed Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong.
South Korean world No.5 and third seed Sung Ji-Hyun is up against Saili Rane of India today.