Gwangju: The mixed doubles No. 4 seeds Goh Liu Ying/Chan Peng Soon have moved serenely through to the quarter-finals of the Korea Masters with a 16-21, 21-14, 21-17 win over Hiroki Okamura/Chisato Hoshi of Japan on Thursday.
Goh/Chan will meet Yang Po-Hsuan/Hu Ling Fang of Taiwan on Friday.
Meanwhile, Goh/Chan’s compatriots, the No. 6 seeds Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai survived the first and second-set scares to see off Korean pair Kim Won Ho/Kim Hye Rin 22-20, 20-22, 21-17 and reach the Korea Masters quarter-finals. They will meet Korea’s No. 3 seeds Seo Seung Jae/Chae Yujung next.
Unfortunately, despite putting up a spirited challenge, another Malaysian mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing was knocked out of the tournament by Lee Jhe-Huei/Hsu Ya Ching of Taiwan 21-16, 22-24, 25-27.
The five-time men’s singles world champion Lin Dan of China secured his quarter-final place with a hard fought second round battle with Heo Kwang Hee of Korea 26-28, 21-19, 21-19 in 83 minutes. Lin will next meet Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand who defeated Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong 21-12, 21-19 in the second round.
In men’s doubles, No. 7 seeds Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong survived a grueling encounter with Kim Gi Jung/Lee Yong Dae of Korea in which they defeated the Korean pair 21-13, 16-21, 21-17 in 53 minutes.
Goh/Tan will play Di Zi Jian/Wang Chang of China next.