Ng Tze Yong powered into the quarter-finals courtesy of a dominant victory against Angus Ng Ka Long and set up a tasty tie against Singapore star Loh Kean Yew.
The world number 23 needed 50 minutes for the 21-18, 21-17 win over his Hong Kong counterpart, who had beaten Lee Zii Jia on Wednesday.
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Tze Yong looked more potent in his attacks, and his defence and reflexes also impressed throughout the contest that he led almost in its entirety.
Men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin also came through after another fine victory, this time sealed in straight games 25-23, 21-15 against sixth seeds Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi.
The newly reunited pair’s feat was made even more amazing by the fact they were playing in Yeosu barely 24 hours after winning the US Open.
They did extremely well to win their opener match in gruelling fashion, before upsetting their fellow compatriots today.
But Goh-Izzuddin will have it all to do next when they play top seeds Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto in the quarter-finals.
These three shuttlers are the only Malaysian representatives left in this Super 500 event after the rest succumbed on Thursday.
Despite putting on a good performance against top seeds Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan, women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah fell just short with a 17-21, 21-17, 19-21 loss.
“That gave our opponents the opportunity to attack us more aggressively. We need to learn to improve on our defence. We learnt a lot from this match nonetheless,” they said, lamenting their defending at the crucial stages.
In the women’s singles, S.Kisona managed to take a game from top seeded Akane Yamaguchi, but couldn’t match the Japanese’s intensity in the next two as she lost 22-20, 14-21, 14-21.
Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu-ying was also too good for K.Letshaana with a 21-15, 21-5 win.
It was also the end of the road for doubles pairs Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai.
Tze Yong is one of two Malaysian representatives remaining at #KoreaOpen2023! ?
— Stadium Astro ?? (@stadiumastro) July 20, 2023
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