KUALA LUMPUR: Ng Tze Yong and Cheam June Wei joined Lee Zii Jia in the last 16 of the Swiss Open after coming out tops in their respective all-Malaysian clashes on Wednesday.
Tze Yong, the world No 26, had to battle hard against his former national team senior Soong Joo Ven before the latter retired midway through the rubber game due to exhaustion to win 23-25, 21-17, 13-4.
It was still a commendable performance from world No 53 Joo Ven as he had to negotiate through two extra matches to qualify for the tournament proper on Tuesday.
The last time the two players met was in the final of the Scottish Open in November 2021, then also won by Tze Yong.
Tze Yong, 22, will be bidding to reach his third consecutive World Tour quarter-finals when he takes on world No 41 June Wei next.
June Wei also advanced by outplaying veteran Liew Daren 21-14, 21-13.
After struggling against Joo Ven, Tze Yong will have to tread with caution as June Wei, too, will just be as difficult given the familiarity with each other style of play.
June Wei had beaten Tze Yong once last year during the Super 100 Indonesia Masters.
In the women's singles, world No 29 Goh Jin Wei put up a spirited display to upset world No 20 Line Kjaersfeldt of Denmark 12-21, 21-17, 21-13 to set up the next encounter with Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong.
Jin Wei will need to be at her best level if she's to avoid her seventh straight defeat. The most recent loss was at the German Open two weeks ago.
It was the end of the road for S. Kisona after going down tamely 21-9, 21-16 to Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland.
The mixed doubles contest saw Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai and Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei being the only two surviving pairs among the five Malaysian combinations.
Soon Huat-Shevon recorded their first-ever win in four matches over 2020 All England champions Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti by triumphing 13-21, 21-15, 22-20, while Tang Jie-Ee Wei strolled to a 21-11, 21-13 win over home pair Nicolas A Mueller-Ronja Stern.
Third seeds Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing, Hoo Pang Ron-Teoh Mei Xing and Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See failed to go through.
Kian Meng-Pei Jing were upset by world No 27 Yang Po Hsuan-Hu Ling Fang 21-16, 21-16 of Taiwan, Pang Ron-Mei Xing went down fighting 18-21, 21-18, 21-19 to German fourth seeds Mark Lamsfuss-Isabel Lohau while Peng Soon-Yee See lost 21-15, 21-19 to Japanese rising pair Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito.