Mixed doubles pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran and men’s singles hope Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul advanced to the second round of the US$950,000 (approx 31.8 million baht) BWF Japan Open on Tuesday.
Fourth seeds Dechapol and Supissara defeated fellow Thais Supak Jomkoh and Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn 21-19, 21-12 to set up a last-16 clash with Yang Po-hsuan and Hu Lingfang of Taiwan in the Super 750 tournament.
Panitchaphon, meanwhile, claimed the opening day’s biggest upset after knocking out fourth seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 21-16, 21-14. The 21-year-old will meet Kodai Naraoka of Japan in the second round on Thursday.
However, the women’s singles trio of Ratchanok Intanon, Supanida Katethong and Busanan Ongbamrungphan all suffered first round losses on Tuesday.
Supanida went down to fourth seed Chen Yufei of China 21-23, 12-21 before seventh seed Ratchanok followed her compatriot out of the tournament with an 18-21, 19-21 loss to Sim Yu-Jin of South Korea, while Busanan was beaten by Michelle Li of Canada 17-21, 12-21.
The trio’s exits mean only two Thai players are left in the women’s singles event, with eighth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong and Pitchamon Opatniputh both scheduled to face Taiwan’s Chiu Pin-chian and Turkey’s Neslihan Arin respectively on Wednesday.
Another mixed doubles pair, Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, failed to advance, losing to Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan of Malaysia in a three-game thriller, 21-15, 19-21, 19-21.
In the women’s doubles event, Hathaithip Mijad and Napapakorn Tungkasatan gave top seeds Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning of China an early scare before losing in three games, 12-21, 21-11, 17-21.
Men’s singles second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn will face Ayush Shetty of India in his first round match on Wednesday.