Digging deep: Vu Thi Trang of Viet Nam defeated Susanto Yulia Yosephin of Indonesia 17-21, 21-15, 21-16 in their women's singles first-round match. — Photo 24h.com

HCM CITY (VNS) — Local top female player Vu Thi Trang lived up to expectations, overcoming Susanto Yulia Yosephin of Indonesia in the women's singles first-round match in three sets (17-2121-1521-16), sealing a place in the second round of the Viet Nam Open badminton tournament.

Trang, who made history for the country last week by becoming the first female player to reach the third round at a World Badminton Championship, is yet to recover from jet lag, which saw her drop the first set 17-21.

The Bac Giang-born girl, however, rallied to claim the two later sets to become the only Vietnamese female player remaining in the tournament with a place in the second round, where she faces sixth seed Yang Li Lian of Malaysia today at Tan Binh Indoor Stadium.

"I am not happy with my performance today because I made too many mistakes, especially in the third set," Trang told Viet Nam News after the match.

There were few surprises at the top end of the draw, with most top seeds advancing to the next round of the women's singles event. Top seed Hsu Ya Ching of Chinese Taipei, third seed Maria Febe Kusumastuti of Indonesia and eighth Iris Wang of Malaysia all came out on top in their first-round matches.

In the men's singles event, third seed Nguyen Tien Minh continued proving his credentials by brushing aside Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub of Malaysia in straights set to book a place in the quarter-finals, where he encountered Ka Long Ng of Hong Kong, China.

Azriyn launched a fierce attack on Minh's back hand wing, catching him off guard and awarding Azriyn an 11-8 scoreboard at the break.

The Malaysian player's game soon dissolved with Minh diverting shots with powerful smashes to notch a 21-10 win in the first set.

Minh's momentum continued into the second set blasting a bewildered Ariyn into a convincing 21-13 win.

Mohammad Arif Abdul Latif of Malaysia also reached the quarter-finals after beating Ajay Jayaram 22-20, 21-16 in the third round while the fifth seed Prannoy H.S. also occupied a place in the final eight.

In the women's doubles event, Trang paired with Nguyen Thi Sen to beat Indonesian duo Meiliana Jauhari and Aprilsasi Putri Lejarasa Variella 22-20, 23-21 to become the only Vietnamese duo in the category.

However, pairings from Thailand and Indonesia looked poised to go all the way to the finals.

Indonesian players dominated the mixed doubles event with all quarter-final matches being all-Indonesian affairs or having at least one pair from the archipelago nation and are expected to sweep the podium places.

Top-seeded Indonesian pair Muhammad Rijal and Vita Marissa will face off against their compatriots: eighth-seeded Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki and Aprilsasi Putri Lejarsar Variella. — VNS