Kuala Lumpur: Last week’s Thailand Masters mixed doubles champions, Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying continued their red-hot form on Tuesday as they beat Bastian Kersaudy/Lea Palermo of France 21-11, 21-17 in the Malaysian Masters first round.
Chan/Goh are set to play Mathias Christiansen/Christinna Pedersen of Denmark next who outlasted Lu Kai/Zhou Chaomin of China 21-13, 21-18 in 42 minutes.
“We just arrived from Thailand on Monday, and we tested the court in the morning before our match in the Tuesday afternoon,” said Goh.
“Peng Soon and I are getting better and we are looking forward for more improvements in other tournaments,” added Goh.
The mixed doubles defending champions Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing, however, survived a scare before they bounced back to overcome Anders Skaarup Rasmussen/Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark 11-21, 21-16, 21-14 in 52 minutes.
Tan/Lai will take on either compatriots Chen Tang Jie/Cheah Yee See or Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Puttita Supajirakul of Thailand in the second round on Thursday.
Malaysia’s mixed doubles No. 8 seeds Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai also entered the second round. The pair outlasted Jacco Arends/Selena Piek of Netherlands 21-17, 21-17 to set up second round battle with Wang Chi Lin/Lee Chia Hsin of Taiwan.
In men’s singles, Malaysia’s Iskandar Zulkarnain, Soon Joo Ven, Daren Liew managed to overcome their respective opponents in qualifying matches to make the main draw.
Zulkarnain will start his opener Anders Antonsen of Denmark on Wednesday, Soong Joo Ven will take on Brice Leverdez of France while Daren Liew will open his fist round match against No. 4 seed Son Wan Ho of Korea.