Panitchaphon, top mixed pair bow out
PUBLISHED : 17 Jul 2026 at 05:44
Kunlavut Vitidsarn advanced to the quarter-finals of the US$950,000 (approximately 32 million baht) BWF Japan Open in Tokyo on Thursday, but Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul and the mixed doubles pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Supissara Paewsampran ended their challenges in the second round.
Men’s singles second seed Kunlavut cruised past Jason Teh of Singapore 21-11, 21-16 in 37 minutes and will play Yushi Tanaka of Japan in the last eight of the Super 750 tournament at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
Kunlavut is the only Thai player left in the Tokyo tournament as all of his compatriots bowed out on Thursday.
Panitchaphon, who upset fourth seed Jonatan Christie in the first round, fell to Kodai Naraoka in three games 21-10, 16-21, 16-21.
Mixed doubles fourth seeds Dechapol and Supissara made a surprise exit after losing to Yang Po-hsuan and Hu Lingfang of Taiwan 16-21, 16-21 in just 33 minutes.
In the women’s singles, rising star Pitchamon Opatniputh started strongly against Akane Yamaguchi but the experienced Japanese player proved too tough to handle as she fought back to seal her place in the next round with a 17-21, 21-15, 21-11 victory.
Third seed Yamaguchi will play South Korea’s Kim Ga-Eun, who received a walkover win against Thai eighth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong.
In other results yesterday, women’s fourth seed Chen Yufei of China advanced with a 21-14, 21-11 win over Polina Buhrova of Ukraine, Pusarla V Sindhu of India knocked out sixth seed Han Yue of China 21-16, 21-14 and Sim Yu-Jin of South Korea edged past Michelle Li of Canada 18-21, 21-19, 21-16.
The tournament lost its women’s top seed An Se-Young after the Korean world No.1 pulled out of her last 16 match against Nozomi Okuhara, handing the Japanese veteran a place in the quarter-final against Sindhu.
In the men’s singles event, top seed Shi Yuqi of China survived a test against Brian Yang of Canada, 16-21, 21-19, 21-18 while fifth seed Christo Popov of France rallied to defeat Leong Jun Hao of Malaysia 16-21, 21-11, 21-17.