PETALING JAYA: Veteran men's doubles pair Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Azriyn Ayub are hoping to turn their fortunes around at the Macau Open after a disappointing run in four tournaments in Southeast Asia last month.
The top seeds, competing at the Macau East Asian Games Dome, beat fellow Malaysians Boon Xin Yuan-Lwi Sheng Hao 21-17, 22-20 in the second round on Thursday (June 18) and will face another Malaysian pair, Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong, in the quarter-finals.
Hang Yee-Eng Cheong booked their place in the last eight after defeating Singapore's eighth seeds Wesley Koh-Junsuke Kubo 21-18, 21-14.
"As I've said before, we're looking for consistency. It's not that we haven't played well because there have been matches where we performed well. But whenever we put in a good performance, other factors seemed to crop up and disrupt our momentum," said Wee Kiong.
Last month proved to be a frustrating one for the pair as they suffered second-round exits at both the Thailand Open and Malaysian Masters.
Things got worse at the Singapore Open and Indonesian Open, where they were knocked out in the first round
Should they beat Hang Yee-Eng Cheong, they will reach their first semi-final in almost two years since making the last four at the Japan Masters in November 2024.
In the women's doubles, second seeds Carmen Ting-Ong Xin Yee will need to be wary if they hope to secure their first semi-final berth of the year when they take on experienced South Korean Kim Hye-jeong and her new partner Moon In-seo.
Carmen-Xin Yee advanced to the quarter-finals after defeating Taiwan's Chou Yun-an-Sung Yi-hsuan 21-13, 21-17 on Thursday.
Mixed doubles pair, Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing are also in the hunt for their first semi-final berth of the year.
The recently formed independent pair will take on South Korea's Cho Song-hyun-Jeong Na-eun, who also only started playing together this year.
Pang Ron-Pei Jing booked their place in the last eight after beating Taiwan's Cheng Kai-wen-Liu Chiao-yun 21-13, 21-12.
