2025-07-29,KUALA LUMPUR

Ten months since they made their partnership debut at the Macau Open, professional duo Lwi Sheng Hao-Chia Wei Jie came full circle on Tuesday with a breakthrough performance at the same tournament.

The world No. 69, both former BA of Malaysia (BAM) dropouts, pulled off a stunning 21-19, 21-19 win over Japan's seventh seeds and world No. 32 Takumi Nomura-Yuichi Shimogami in the opening round of the Super 300 event.

What made the win even sweeter was the fact that Nomura-Shimogami are Japan's third-highest ranked men's doubles pair — underlining the scale of the upset and signalling a strong statement of intent from Sheng Hao-Wei Jie, who have struggled for consistency since turning pro although they did claim a Super 100 title at Guwahati Masters in December last year.

Their next challenge will be Hong Kong's Hung Kuei Chun-Lui Chun Wai as they bid to string together back-to-back main draw victories on the World Tour for only the second time this season.

Also through to the second round were fourth seeds Wan Arif Junaidi-Yap Roy King, who brushed aside China's Ren Xiang Yu-Sun Wen Jun 21-15, 21-16, and Choong Hon Jian-Haikal Nazri, comfortable 21-15, 21-14 winners over Singapore's Wesley Koh-Junsuke Kubo.

However, it was an early exit for Bryan Jeremy Goonting-Fazriq Razif and Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong.

Bryan-Fazriq went down fighting 21-11, 22-20 to Indonesia's Muh Putra Erwiansyah-Daniel Edgar Marvino, while Hang Yee-Eng Cheong were outplayed by second seeds and former world No. 1 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty of India 21-13, 21-15.

Veteran Goh V Shem, teaming up with South Korea's Choi Sol Gyu, kept his campaign alive with a convincing 21-15, 21-16 victory over Taiwan's Su Ching Heng-Wu Guan Xun.

In the women's doubles, Go Pei Kee-Teoh Mei Xing celebrated their entry into the world's top 20 earlier in the day with a dominant 21-8, 21-11 win over India's Apoorva Gahlawat-Sakshi Gahlawat.

The pair had climbed four rungs to No. 18 in the latest rankings, courtesy of their quarter-final run at last week's China Open.