Ratchanok Intanon and Busanan Ongbamrungphan survived early scares at the US$2 million BWF China Open after both players overcame their opponents in three games on Tuesday.
Seventh seed Ratchanok lost in the first round at the Japan Open last week, and the Thai veteran fought hard to avoid yet another early exit to progress with a 21-12, 12-21, 21-11 win over Michelle Li of Canada in Changzhou.
Next up for the 31-year-old in the season's final Super 1000 tournament is a match against Vietnam's Nguyen Thuy Linh, who edged past Japan's Hina Akechi 21-10, 10-21, 21-14.
Busanan, who also suffered a first-round exit in Tokyo last week, overcame Davika Sihag of India 21-19, 19-21, 21-13. The victory set up a last-16 clash with sixth seed Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia on Thursday.
Mixed doubles pair Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai also made it to the second round after they defeated Wu Guanxun and Lee Chia-hsin of Taiwan 21-8, 21-13.
But another mixed pair Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat bowed out, losing to home players Gao Jiaxuan and Wu Mengying 19-21, 21-15, 22-24.
Women's doubles players Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard also took three games to advance. The sisters fought back to defeat Francesca Corbett and Jennie Gai of the United States in a 19-21, 21-19, 21-19 thriller.
Pornpawee Chochuwong, Supanida Katethong and Pitchamon Opatniputh will play their women's singles first round matches on Wednesday.
Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul will also begin their campaign on Wednesday in the men's singles event.
Second seed Kunlavut will play Rasmus Gemke of Denmark while Panitchaphon will meet Koki Watanabe of Japan. If he wins his opener, Panitchaphon will face top seed and world No.1 Shi Yuqi of China in the second round.
