Thai women's doubles pairs Benyapa Aimsaard/Nuntakarn Aimsaard and Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai moved into the last 16 of the US$1,250,000 BWF Indonesia Open in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Benyapa and Nuntakarn eased past Annie Xu and Kerry Xu of the United States 21-11, 21-15 while Jongkolphan and Rawinda defeated Jin Yu Jia and Crystal Wong of Singapore 21-9, 21-8 in the first round of the World Tour Super 1000 event.
The Aimsaard sisters will play Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara of Japan while Jongkolphan and Rawinda will face Rena Miyaura and Ayako Sakuramoto, also of Japan, in the last 16
Matsumoto and Nagahara downed South Korean eighth seeds Kim So-Yeong and Kong Hee-Yong 21-17, 21-16 while Miyaura and Sakuramoto upset second seeded compatriots Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 21-16, 19-21, 21-17.
Other Thai players failed to make it past the opening round.
Mixed doubles pair Supak Jomkoh and Supissara Paewsampran lost to Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino of Japan 21-12, 13-21, 7-21.
Supak also lost in the men's doubles opener after he and playing partner Kittinupong Kedren were beaten by Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia 16-21, 17-21.
Kunlavut Vitidsarn pulled out of the first round match against Priyanshu Rajawat, handing the Indian a walkover win and a place in the last 16.
In the women's singles event, women's top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan defeated Zhang Yiman of China 6-21, 21-7, 22-20; second seed An Se-Young of South Korea eased past Aakarshi Kashyap of India 21-10, 21-4; and Kim Ga-Eun of South Korea overcame Michelle Li of Canada 22-24, 21-17, 23-21.
In the men's singles first round, Loh Kean Yew of Singapore defeated Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia 21-15, 23-21; Jonathan Christie of Indonesia beat Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan 21-17, 21-10; and India's Srikanth Kidambi beat China's Lu Guangzu 21-13, 21-19.
