Loh Kean Yew, Carolina Marín, Viktor Axelsen parade into Malaysia Open quarter-finals
World No. 6 Loh and Rio 2016 Olympic champion Marin exude class in their second match in Kuala Jumpur against Zhao Jun Peng and Pornpawee Chochuwong, respectively.
Badminton
Loh Kean Yew advanced to the badminton Malaysia Open quarter-finals with a controlling two-game win over Zhao Jun Peng on Thursday (12 January).
Loh beat his Chinese opponent 21-15, 21-8 and will face either Kantaphon Wangcharoen or Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the next round of the BWF Super 1000 event.
World No. 6 Loh, who was made to work by Li Shi Feng in his first match of the Kuala Lumpur tournament on Wednesday, rarely trailed throughout the 39-minute affair on this day.
Down by five at one point in the first game, Zhao managed to even the score at 14 but Loh rattled off the next six points to put things to bed.
The Singaporean was in cruise control in the second set, steadily pulling away from 2-2 before winning the last seven points of the game to assuredly take the match.
Olympic champion and two-time world gold medallist Viktor Axelsen made it through to the quarter-finals too after a walkover win against Daren Liew.
On the same court following Loh's victory, Rio 2016 gold medallist Carolina Marín got past Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-14, 21-17 to secure her place in the last eight.
Marin - who knocked out P.V. Sindhu in three games in the opening round - had to fight for the win as Chochuwong kept it close over the course of 50 minutes.
The Thai shuttler wouldn't let Marin out of her sights, inching within 14-12 in the first game before the Spaniard turned it up to capture seven of the last nine points - and the set.
Chochuwong was in the driver's seat early on in the second game, moving out to a 10-6 lead. But Marin used the interval to regroup, making it 13-all.
From there, Marin displayed the resolve of an Olympic champion, grabbing the lead and never looking back. Chochuwong tried to claw back, creeping within 18-17 but Marin won the next three points to progress.
Marin is now 9-1 for her career against Chochuwong.