PETALING JAYA: Veteran men’s doubles pair Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Azriyn Ayub cannot afford to be complacent when they face Taiwan’s Lai Po-yu-Tsai Fu-cheng in the second round of the Thailand Masters tomorrow.
On paper, Wee Kiong-Azriyn appear well placed to reach the quarter-finals as the tournament’s fourth seeds, having also won their previous two meetings against their opponents.
Both encounters came last year, starting with a first-round clash at the Macau Open in July, followed by another first-round meeting at the Japan Masters in November.
However, despite being ranked No. 57 in the world, Po-yu and Fu-cheng sent out a strong warning when they pulled off a first-round upset yesterday, defeating China’s No. 27 ranked Huang Di-Sun Wenjun 21-17, 21-19.
The result serves as a reminder to Wee Kiong-Azriyn that Po-yu and Fu-cheng are eager to make amends for past defeats and are determined to derail their bid for a deeper run in the tournament.
Earlier, Wee Kiong-Azriyn were pushed hard by India’s Pruthvi Krishnamurthy-Sai Pratheek before edging through 22-20, 22-20 in the first round.
Malaysia’s men’s singles challenge, however, ended early with both Eogene Ewe and Jacky Kok exiting in the qualifying rounds.
Eogene made a promising start by defeating India’s Rithvik Sanjeevi 21-8, 21-15, but was unable to maintain the momentum in his next match, going down 16-21, 14-21 to China’s Zhu Xuanchen.
Jacky also began brightly with a 21-18, 21-14 win over Indonesia’s Yohanes Saut, but could not replicate that performance against Taiwan’s Wang Yu-kai, losing 20-22, 11-21.
In the women’s singles, Siti Zulaikha Azmi also bowed out in the qualifying rounds after losing 16-21, 11-21 to South Korea’s Lee So-yul.
