Olympic bronze medallists Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are regaining their form after producing a solid performance to reach the French Open quarter-finals.
The world No 8 put any doubts of their abilities behind them with an impressive 21-12, 21-12 triumph over Thailand's Supak Jomkoh-Kittinupong Kedren in the second round on Thursday. They meet India's fifth seeds S. Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty next.
It was a much improved performance from the fourth seeds who have been below their best in recent weeks.
Despite a strong showing at the Sudirman Cup, Aaron-Wooi Yik spluttered at the recent Thomas Cup Finals and suffered an early exit at the Denmark Open. But they are certainly looking to be back on track to win their first Open title.
Also in the last eight were independent pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi who beat England's Callum Hemming-Steven Stallwood 21-8, 21-8. The seventh seeds will next meet Indonesia's top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
It was also a good outing for independent mixed pairs Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie. Fifth seeds Peng Soon-Liu Ying overcame Japan's Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo 21-19, 21-14 while Soon Huat-Shevon defeated Russia's Rodion Alimov-Alina Davletova 21-9, 21-13 to reach the last eight respectively.
There was, however, no joy for national women's pairs Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah and Lee Meng Yean-Yap Cheng Wen. Eighth seeds Pearly-Thinaah lost 12-21, 21-23 to Indonesia's Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti-Ribka Sugiarto while Meng Yean-Cheng Wen went down 19-21, 24-22, 16-21 to Britain's sixth seeds Chloe Birch-Lauren Smith.
Meanwhile in Leuven, men's singles Ng Tze Yong continued his steady rise by storming into the semi-finals of the Belgian International. The world No 74, who finished runner-up at the Czech Open last week, blew past France's Luucas Claerbout 21-14, 21-12 in the quarter-finals yesterday. He will meet either second seed Subhankar Dey of India or Japan's Yusuke Onodera in the last four.
However, the Malaysian challenge in Belgium was much reduced after Chang Yee Jun-Yap Roy King, Chia Weijie-Low Hang Yee (men's doubles), Eoon Qi Xuan (women's singles), Go Pei Kee-Yap Ling (women's doubles) and Choong Hon Jian-Go Pei Kee (mixed doubles) were all shown the exit in the second round.
