Macau: The Malaysian and Korean combo of Tan Boon Heong/Kim Sa Rang pulled off the biggest surprise of the day on Wednesday during the 2018 Macau Open first round when they easily stormed past last Sunday’s French Open champions Han Chengkai/Zhou Haodong of China, beating the Chinese pair 21-19, 21-13 in just 24 minutes.
It’s worth noting that Han/Zhou defeated World No. 1 pair Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon of Indonesia in the final to claim their first ever French Open three days ago.
Tan and Kim will take on Lee Sheng Mu/Tang Po-Hsuan of Taiwan on Thursday.
In other men’s doubles, former World Champions Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol of Korea were forced to dig deep as they beat No. 4 seeds Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pangkaryanira/Ade Yusuf Santoso of Indonesia 21-14, 16-21, 21-13 in 49 minutes. Ko/Shin will play Yonny Chung/Tam Chun Hei of Hong Kong next.
Also entered the men’s doubles second round were former men’s doubles World No. 1 Lee Yong Dae and his current partner Kim Gi Jung of Korea after seeing off Ho Wai Lun/Mak Hee Chun of Hong Kong 21-17, 21-18.
Lee/Kim will face Malaysian pair, Chooi Kah Ming/Low Juan Shen in the second round.
In men’s singles, Malaysia’s Chong Wei Feng breezed past Yang Chih Cheh of Taiwan 21-16, 21-9 to play Zhao Junpeng of China on Thursday.
Meanwhile, former Olympic women’s singles champion Li Xuerui, needed only 27 minutes to sweep past No. 6 seed Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong 21-13, 21-6 to advance to the second round. Li is set to battle Lee Se Yeon of Korea for a quarter-final berth.
