Malaysian pairs cleared their opening round hurdles at the 2023 Malaysia Masters as Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah and Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi came through on Tuesday.

Ong-Teo tamed Chinese pair Ren Xiang Yu-Tan Qiang 21-16, 21-18 under 40 minutes to set up a meeting against Chinese Taipei’s Lu Ching Yao-Yang Po Han.

Man-Tee also did well to beat Danish seventh seeds Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen 25-23, 21-16 to sail into the next round.

Chia-Soh were made to slog until deuce in the deciding match against Indonesian pair Pramudya Kusumawardana-Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan before prevailing 21-18, 10-21, 23-21.

The world champs face South Koreans Choi Sol-gyu-Kim Won-ho next.

In the women’s doubles, Tan-Thinaah served up a cold dish of revenge with a powerful display to pick apart Bulgarian sisters Gabriela-Stefani Stoeva 21-17, 21-14.

The 40-minute victory was redemption for a straight-game loss they suffered to the same pair at the Malaysia Open earlier this year.

“We are happy to have won this, especially after losing in our last meeting to them. Next is a meeting against the Japanese pair [Rena Miyaura-Ayako Sakuramoto] and we have to be mentally prepared against them. All Japanese pairs are consistent and physically good,” they said.

Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See completed a good day for the doubles contingent with a straight game victory.

However, it wasn’t a good day for national men’s singles players competing in the qualifying round with Leong Jun Hao, Aidil Sholeh and Cheam June Wei all losing.

It was the same in the women’s doubles with Cheng Su Hui-Cheng Su Yin and Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien also losing in straight games.