The year continued to bring positive returns for Karupathevan Letshanaa, as the Malaysian banked on home crowd support to take down world No.9 Tomoka Miyazaki in straight games.

This was her first win over a current top 10 player, and her second quarterfinal at an HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament this year.

“I think it’s another good breakthrough for me,” the world No.38 said, following her 21-15 21-17 defeat of Miyazaki, who appeared drained of confidence as the match wore on. “Earlier this year I reached my first Super 500 semifinal in Indonesia, and now I’ve reached the quarterfinals at home. So this definitely gives me confidence and shows that I’m improving and moving in the right direction.”

With Miyazaki having beaten Letshanaa with relative comfort in both their earli

er contests, the Malaysian was pleased to turn it around, controlling the match for the most part, with Miyazaki making several errors of judgement.

“I think she was under pressure as well, but the consistency and confidence I had today probably put even more pressure on her,” said Letshanaa. “That made things difficult for her. But I still feel she played her own game. There was pressure on my side too because I was playing at home and wanted to give my best. But at the same time, I was the underdog, so my goal was simply to fight hard and give my best on court. That helped me overcome the situation.”

The difference, she said, was in her more attacking play which she had been working on.

“It’s not something that changed recently. We have been working on it throughout the journey and now we are finally seeing some improvement in my game — physically, tactically and most importantly mentally. All these things are coming together now and giving positive results.”

Highlights

» USA could relish a good day, withChen Zhi Yi/Presley Smith, Presley Smith/Jennie Gai and Lauren Lam/Allison Quynh Lee making the quarterfinals. Francesca Corbett/Jennie Gai had their chances, but faltered after holding two match points in their second round match.

» Qualifier Hu Zhe An came from behind to get the better of Alex Lanier in 71 minutes, 15-21 21-16 21-15.

» Qualifier Ashmita Chaliha stopped home hope Goh Jin Wei 21-13 21-16.

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