Bangkok: World junior bronze medalist Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia pulled off an upset against ninth seed Ihsan Maulana Mustofa of Indonesia in the 3rd round of Thailand Masters, outlasting the Indonesian 21-19, 21-14 in 44 minutes.
Lee now faces a much stiffer challenge in the quarter-finals as he will play No. 1 seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk on Friday.
The home favorite No. 1 seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk defeated Indonesian qualifier Androw Yunanto in straight games 21-17, 21-14 to set up the quarter-finals meeting with Lee Zii Jia.
In women’s singles see-saw battle, No. 6 seed Soniia Cheah overcame Chen Su Yu of Taiwan by winning 21-19, 21-19. Nevertheless, a tough test awaits Cheah in the quarter-finals as she will play No. 1 seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan next.
Meanwhile, Ongbamrungphan was made to work on Thursday, fighting back from dropping a set to edge past Gao Fangjie of China 13-21, 21-16, 21-18.
Although the Malaysian-Indonesian duo of Tan Boon Heong-Hendra Setiawan were playing more aggressively than their previous matches, due to series of flaws in their defense, they were beaten by Indonesian pair Berry Angriawan/Hardianto Hardianto 21-15, 17-21, 22-24 in 68 minutes.
Malaysia’s young men’s doubles pair, Chooi Kah Ming-Low Juan Shen managed to breeze through to the quarter-finals after seeing off Tinn Isriyanet/Kittisak Namdash of Thailand 21-11, 21-11. Chooi/Low will play another Thai pair and No. 3 seeds Kittinupong Kedren/Dechapol Puavaranukroh on Friday.
