Kunlavut and Pornpawee march into quarter-finals

Kunlavut and Pornpawee march into quarter-finals
Kunlavut Vitidsarn booked his berth in the men's singles quarter-finals of the US$1.15 million BWF China Masters 2024 in Shenzhen on Thursday.
The Thai fifth seed defeated China's Wang Tzuwei 21-16, 21-17 in the last 16 of the World Tour Super 750 event.
Kunlavut will play top seed Shi Yuqi of China in the last eight.
Shi edged Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia 22-24, 21-13, 21-18.
Olympic silver medallist Kunlavut defeated Shi in the quarter-finals at the Paris Games.
Kunlavut is chasing his second title of the year. The reigning world champion claimed his first title of 2024 at the Korea Masters earlier this month.
On-song Thai women's singles star Pornpawee Chochuwong also tasted success on Thursday as she marched into the quarter-finals of the tournament.
After a relatively slow start, Pornpawee completely dominated Lin Hsiang-ti of Taiwan in the second game of her last-16 encounter before claiming an easy 21-17, 21-9 victory.
Pornpawee is in contention for a place in the lucrative World Tour Finals along with compatriot Supanida Katethong, who was to take on Malvika Bansod of India in the last-16 round later yesterday.
Earlier, mixed doubles pair Supak Jomkoh and Supsiree Taerattanachai bowed out in the last 16 after losing to eighth seeds Yang Po-hsuan and Hu Ling-fang of Taiwan 23-21, 12-21, 18-21.
Yang and Hu will play top seeds Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping in the last eight.
The Chinese pair went straight into the quarter-finals after they received a walkover win over Sumeeth B Reddy and Sikki Reddy of India.
Meanwhile, women's top seed An Se-Young of South Korea battled past Sung Shuo-yun of Taiwan 21-23, 21-12, 21-12.
An will play Zhang Yiman of China in the quarter-finals. Zhang also needed three games to overcome Michelle Li of Canada on Thursday.
Japan's rising star Tomoko Yamazaki rallied to beat Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark 17-21, 23-21, 21-10. She will next play Natsuki Nidaira of Japan or Anupama Upadhyaya of India in the last eight.
In the men's singles event, top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark downed Weng Hongyang of China 21-16, 21-11 while sixth seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia beat China's Lu Guangzu 21-8, 21-19.