Korea Open: Malaysian shuttler Letshanaa cruises into second round, faces world No. 1 An Se Young next

National women’s singles shuttler K. Letshanaa got her 2026 Korea Open campaign off to a winning start after overcoming Thailand’s Tonrug Saeheng today. — Bernama pic

First Published: Wednesday, 04 Nov 2026 6:38 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — National women’s singles shuttler K. Letshanaa got her 2026 Korea Open campaign off to a winning start after overcoming Thailand’s Tonrug Saeheng today.

In the first-round match at Jinnam Stadium, the world number 28 took 47 minutes to dispatch the 64th-ranked Thai player in straight sets, 21-17, 21-18.

However, a daunting task awaits Letshanaa in the second round, where she is scheduled to face South Korea’s world number one, An Se Young.

Se Young holds a flawless head-to-head record against Letshanaa, having won all four of their previous encounters.

It was the end of the road, however, for another Malaysian singles player, Wong Ling Ching, who bowed out after a closely contested 17-21, 23-21, 20-22 defeat to Indonesia’s Thalita Ramadhani Wiryawan.

Meanwhile, two Malaysian mixed doubles pairs, Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing and Chen Tang Jie-Chan Wen Tse, also marched into the second round.

Pang Ron-Pei Jing defeated Thai pair Tonkid Saeheng-Tonrug Saeheng 21-10, 21-14 to set up a clash against either Australia’s Zewei Xie-Yuran Zhang or host pair Jin Sung Ik-Seung Hee Lee.

Tang Jie-Wen Tse dispatched Australian duo Andika Ramadiansyah-Nozomi Shimizu 21-9, 21-14 and will square off against third seeds Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi of China in the second round. — Bernama