KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 — National men's doubles pair Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King created an upset at the Hong Kong Open today when they defeated third seeds Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen from Denmark to advance to the second round.
The Malaysians, ranked world 20th, defeated the fourth-ranked pair 21-19, 23-21 in 42 minutes.
Awaiting Arif-Yap in the second round on Thursday (September 11) will be either compatriots Choong Hon Jian-Muhammad Haikal Nazri or South Korean pair Kim Gi Jung-Kim Sa Rang, who will meet in the first round tomorrow.
Also advancing to the second round are 2025 World Championship runners-up Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan, who cruised past Hong Kong's Chu Wing Chi-Yu Yi Kiu 21-9, 21-9 in just 25 minutes.
Making their Hong Kong Open title defence, world women's doubles No. 2 Tan-Thinaah will face either the Chinese pair of Chen Qing Chen-Keng Shu Liang or Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilyssa Trias Puspitasari from Indonesia to chase a quarter-final slot.
Other results involving Malaysians today: Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun bt Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub-Tan Wee Kiong 21-19, 21-12; Goh Pei Kee-Teoh Mei Xing bt Fan Ka Yan-Yau Mau Ying (HKG) 21-15, 17-21, 21-12; Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Mohd Rumsani bt Xie Haonan-Zeng Wei Han (CHN) 21-12, 11-21, 21-19.
