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AKARTA: Newly paired mixed doubles Tantowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir, who officially split from her world top duo Nova Widianto, steadily advanced to quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold in Samarinda, East Kalimantan on Thursday.

Tantowi and Liliyana only took 15 minutes to sweep juniors Jones Ralfy Jansen and Nurbeta Kwanrico 21-14, 21-7 on Thursday. Tantowi and Liliyana will meet fourth seed Ong Jian Guo and Chong Sook Chin of Malaysia in Friday’s quarters.

The tournament serves as their final tryout prior to the Asian Games in Guangzhou in November.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s top men’s duo, Markis Kido advanced to the quarters in his pairing debut with Lita Nurlita in the mixed doubles and Sigit Budiarto in the men’s doubles.

After beating Taiwanese pair, the debutant pair Markis and Lita will face top seed Hendra A. Gunawan and Vita Marissa on Friday.

In the men’s doubles quarters, Markis and Sigit will spar with Bona Septano and Muhamad Ahsan.

First seed men’s singles Taufik Hidayat will face tough Chinese rival Du Pengyu on Friday. — JP