KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Open made history in the men's doubles competition as, for the first time since the World Tour's inception in 2018, no top-four seeded pairs advanced to the quarter-finals following defending champions Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang's second-round exit.
The second-seeded Chinese pair fell to South Korea's new partnership of Seo Seung Jae and Kim Won Ho, who won 21-17, 21-16 victory at Axiata Arena on Thursday.
The tournament had already witnessed the first-round departures of other top seeds, including world No. 1 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark, home favorites Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (world No. 3) and Indonesia's Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto (No. 4).
The upsets extended to the mixed doubles event, where Thailand's Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran outplayed second-seeded Chinese pair Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin with a commanding 21-14, 21-19 performance.