Chen Tang Jie and Clarissa San produced the standout performance as Malaysia enjoyed a perfect day in mixed doubles at the Korea Masters, with all three national pairs advancing to the quarter-finals in Asan.
The unseeded Tang Jie and Clarissa pulled off the biggest upset, beating Chinese Taipei's fourth seeds Wu Hsuan Yi and Yang Chu Yun 21-12, 13-21, 21-11 to reach the last eight.
It is the pair's first quarter-final together on the World Tour and marks an encouraging step forward after a difficult start to their partnership. They had suffered early exits at tournaments in Japan, China and Taiwan before making their breakthrough in Korea.
Clarissa was brought in to partner Tang Jie while Toh Ee Wei recovers from an ACL injury. With Toh's return still uncertain, the Korea Masters represents an important opportunity for Tang Jie and Clarissa to build confidence and establish themselves as a competitive pairing.
They will now face Japan's Haruki Kawabe and Kokona Ishikawa in the quarter-finals.
Malaysia's other two mixed doubles pairs also made it through, ensuring a clean sweep in the event. Fifth seeds Jimmy Wong and Cheng Su Yin showed plenty of resilience to overcome South Korea's Kim Joon Young and Lee Yu Lim 13-21, 21-15, 25-23 in a 62-minute battle.
After dropping the opening game, Wong and Cheng held their nerve in a tense deciding game to secure their place in the last eight. They will next face either Canada's Timothy Lock and Chloe Hoang or South Korea's second seeds Kim Jae Hyeon and Jang Ha Jeong.
Loo Bing Kun and Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan completed Malaysia's strong showing with a 21-15, 22-20 victory over Australia's Andika Ramadiansyah and Nozomi Shimizu.
The Malaysian pair will have a difficult quarter-final ahead, with China's third seeds Gao Jia Xuan and Wu Meng Ying waiting for them.
With all three Malaysian mixed doubles pairs now through to the quarter-finals, the national contingent will hope to turn its strong start into at least one place in the semi-finals when the knockout stage continues on Friday.
