Olympic silver medallist Kunlavut fought back to defeat Su Li Yang of Taiwan 20-22, 21-14, 21-15 at the World Tour Super 1000 event, reports the Bangkok Post.
The eighth seed, who returns to competition for the first time after Paris 2024, will play Canada’s Brian Yang in the last 16 of the men’s singles event.
Kunlavut’s Paris Games silver was the first ever medal for Thailand in the sport.
Pornpawee, who reached the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open, defeated Kim Ga-Eun of South Korea 21-15, 21-15 to advance.
She will face either Liang Ting-yu of Taiwan or Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark in the last 16.
Another Thai, Ratchanok Intanon made an early exit yesterday, bowing out in the first round, losing to Japan’s seventh seed Aya Ohori 18-21, 14-21.
Ratchanok reached the quarter-finals in Hong Kong last week before losing to finalist Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan.
Kantaphon Wangcharoen also crashed out after falling to top-ranked Shi Yuqi of China 10-21, 19-21.
Women’s doubles pair Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai exited the tournament after losing to Lee Yu-Lim and Shin Seung-Chang of South Korea 13-21, 21-13, 19-21.
In other results, Japan’s Koki Watanabe upset third seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia 21-15, 21-2; Japan’s Kodai Naraoka downed compatriot Takuma Obayashi 21-14, 21-11 and Taiwan’s Wang Tzu-wei defeated France’s Christo Popov 21-14, 12-21, 21-19.
Two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen begins his campaign today against Lei Lanxi of China in a rematch of Sunday’s final in Hong Kong, won by the Dane.