Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub Azriyn and Tan Wee Kiong achieved their biggest result in recent times with the stunning upset of fourth seeds Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the second round of the DAIHATSU Japan Open 2025.

The world No.26 Malaysian pair have endured a difficult year, with a streak of seven first round exits, and winning only three of 11 matches this season. One of those was against Leo Rolly Carnando/Bagas Maulana at the Indonesia Masters in January – that result apart, the Malaysians have had little to cheer about until they arrived in Tokyo.

After a close first round win over Popov brothers Toma Junior and Christo, Azriyn and Tan stayed the course against Astrup and Rasmussen, edging the Danes 21-19 in the third to make the last-eight in the second quarter. Incidentally, their previous best result was also in Japan, at the Kumamoto Masters last November when they made the semifinals.

“We are satisfied and happy with today’s performance,” said Tan, one of the veterans of the circuit at 36. “We are always looking for a breakthrough, so today was a boost. For youngsters it’s not a problem to recover, but for me it might take some time. We never thought about this result. We just focussed on our performance and not the result. We’re happy that in the last two matches we were able to create something in our career.”

It turned out to be a good day for Malaysia, with several other pairs making the quarterfinals. Defending champions Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin progressed in the top quarter, booking a spot against scratch combination Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri.

Sixth seeds Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun held off Huang Di/Liu Yang in a thrilling third game, saving two match points to prevail 21-19 14-21 22-20. The Malaysians will be up against in-form duo Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae in the quarterfinals.

The bottom quarter will see Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi against fifth seeds Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang after the Malaysians survived a close call against USA’s Chen Zhi Yi/Presley Smith, 21-19 in the third game.

Malaysia had a good day in mixed doubles and women’s doubles as well, with Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei, Goh Soon Huat/Lai Shevon Jemie and Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan taking their placed in the last eight.

What They Said

“It was a bit of mental problem… I felt a bit more tense with the hand. The legs were there, but the hand was not. I felt it straightaway coming on court. It was hard for me to find the backline, to find the length, the trajectory was not that good. But I kept fighting.” – Alex Lanier, after beating Alwi Farhan in three games

“It was a physical match for both us, the rallies were very long. Credit to him, he played a solid game. You have to earn every point with him, he’s very steady, you just have to wait for the right chance.” – Lakshya Sen, after falling to familiar rival Kodai Naraoka

→Results (Day 3)