Ten tournaments into their partnership, Chia Weijie-Teo Ee Yi finally have a breakthrough to show for their efforts.
The Malaysian pair booked their maiden Super 500 quarterfinal at the Korea Open 2026 with a win over He Zhi Wei-Huang Jui-Hsuan, building on their earlier upset of fourth seeds Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi in the opening round.
“It means a lot to me. It boosts said my confidence,” said Weijie.
Yet neither player was getting carried away. After a challenging start to the season, Weijie was keen to stress that the result was only the beginning.
“It’s just a starting point for us. I mean, we want to go further.”
For Ee Yi, who spent years alongside Ong Yew Sin, it marked an encouraging milestone in a partnership that has taken time to find its footing.
Their opening-round win over Bo Yang-Liu Yi came as a surprise even to themselves. Rather than focusing on the opposition, the world No.39 duo concentrated on trusting the work they had put in on the training court.
“We didn’t expect that. During that match, we just played our best as we have in training.”
At 33, Teo remains one of the most experienced players on tour and spoke candidly about the challenge of staying competitive. For him, managing the mental side of the game is every bit as important as maintaining physical condition.
“If you control the mental side, in a ‘you can do it’ way, that’s good,” he said, adding that then “the physical side is not is a problem for me.”
Weiie highlighted Ee Yi’s resilience as one of the qualities he admires most, describing his partner’s attitude as “never say lose, never say die”. The pair also credited their coaches for reinforcing a simple message throughout the week: maintain shot quality, regardless of the scoreline.
SECOND ROUND RESULTS
Men’s singles: Wang Po-Wei (Tpe) bt Alwi Farhan (Ina) 17-21, 25-23, 21-15; Yudai Okimoto (Jpn) bt Yoo Tae-bin (Kor) 21-15, 27-25; Antony Sinisuka Ginting (Ina) bt Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg) 21-15, 21-16; Kim Hae-deun (Kor) bt Yushi Tanaka (Jpn) 15-21, 21-12, 21-18; Jason Gunawan (Hkg) bt Lee Chia Hao (Tpe) 19-21, 21-13, 21-11; Lee Cheuk Yiu (Chn) bt Hu Zhean (Chn) 21-17, 14-21, 21-7; Victor Lai (Can) bt Zhu Xuanchen (Chn) 21-13, 21-16; Wang Tzu Wei (Tpe) bt Wang Yu-Kai (Tpe) 21-15, 21-12
Men’s doubles: Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (Mas) bt Chen Zhi Ray-Lin Yu Chieh (Tpe) 24-22, 21-12; Kang Min-hyuk-Lee Jongmin (Kor) bt Hiroki Okamura-Kyohei Yamashita (Jpn) 13-21, 21-15, 21-18; Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Choi Sol Gyu-Goh V Shem (Kor-Mas) 21-14, 19-21, 21-15; Kakeru Kumagai-Hiroki Nishi (Jpn) bt Lin Xiangyi-Zeng Weihan (Chn) 21-15, 21-18; Haruki Kawabe-Kenta Matsukawa (Jpn) bt Takuto Goto-Tsubasa Yoshida (Jpn) 21-12, 21-14; Chia Weiji-Teo Ee Yi (Mas) bt He Zhi-Wei-Huang Jui-Hsuan (Tpe) 21-9, 21-19; Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Jin Yong-Jo Song-hyun (Kor) 21-16, 21-13; Wang Chang-Xie Haonan (Chn) bt Keiichiro Matsui-Kenya Mitsuhashi (Jpn) 19-21, 21-10, 21-14
Women’s singles: Hina Akechi (Jpn) bt Tanvi Sharma (Ind) 21-18, 21-12; An Se-young (Kor) bt Letshanaa Karupathevan (Mas) 21-10, 21-12; Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Anmol Kharb (Ind) 21-18, 21-18; Lin Hsiang Ti (Tpe) bt Mutiara Ayu Puspitasari (Ina) 22-20, 19-21, 21-13; Tomoka Miyazaki (Jpn) bt Han Qianxi (Chn) 21-10, 21-17; Riko Gunji (Jpn) bt Tung Ciou-Tong (Tpe) 21-17, 20-22, 21-17; Kim Min-sun (Kor) bt Park Ga-eun (Kor) 24-26, 21-16, 21-10; Ni Kadek Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi (Ina) bt Thalita Ramadhani Wiryawan (Ina) 21-15, 17-21, 21-13
Women’s doubles: Gabriela Stoeva-Stefani Stoeva (Bul) bt Ririna Hiramoto-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) 19-21, 21-18, 21-19; Kim Hye-jeong-Lee Yeon-woo (Kor) bt Polina Buhrova-Yevheniia Kantemyr (Ukr) 21-8, 21-15; Kim Yu-jung-Lee Yu-lim (Kor) bt Luo Yi-Wang Tingge (Chn) 21-12, 22-20; Rui Hirokami-Sayaka Hobara (Jpn) bt Isyana Syahira Meida-Rinjani Kwinnara Nastine (Hkg) 21-15, 17-21, 21-15; Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Jpn) bt Laudya Chelsea Griselda-Nozomi Shimizu (Aus) 18-21, 21-9, 21-16; Chen Fan Shutian-Luo Xumin (Chn) bt Bao Lijing-Cao Zihan (Chn) 5-2 rtd; Lauren Lam-Allison Quynh Lee (USA) bt Chen Yan Fei-Liang Ching Sun (Tpe) 21-19, 23-21; Li Yijing-Wang Yiduo (Chn) bt Hinata Suzuki-Nao Yamakita (Jpn) 21-12, 22-20
Mixed doubles: Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi (Chn) bt Chen Tang Jie-Chan Wen Tse (Mas) 21-7, 21-13; Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui (Chn) bt Evgeni Panec-Gabriela Stoeva (Bul) 21-8, 21-11; Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing (Mas) bt Jin Sung-ik-Lee Seung-hee (Kor) 21-8, 21-15; Zhu Yijun-Li Qian (Chn) bt Lee Sang-min-Park Min-ji (Kor) 21-10, 19-21, 21-16; Gao Jiaxuan-Wu Mengying (Chn) bt Kim Hae-hyeon-Jang Ha-jeong (Kor) 21-14, 21-19; Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) bt Haruki Kawabe-Kokona Ishikawa (Jpn) 21-11, 21-18; Akira Koga-Natsu Saito (Jpn) bt He Zhi-Wei-Sun Liang Ching (Tpe) 21-6, 21-10; Yuta Watanabe-Maya Taguchi (Jpn) bt Hyun Su-min-Moon In-seo (Kor) 21-7, 21-14
