Top-ranked mixed doubles duo Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai kept alive their hopes of claiming their fifth straight title by defeating Malaysia's Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie in the quarter-finals at the BWF World Championships in Spain on Friday.
The second-seeded Thais needed 44 minutes to finish off their Malaysian opponents 21-15, 21-13 for a place in today's semi-finals.
Dechapol and Sapsiree won the last three events of the 2021 World Tour season held in Bali, Indonesia ahead of the World Championships.
They also won the Hylo Open in Germany before the Bali tournaments.
In all, the pair have won seven titles this year starting with three successive wins on home soil in the 2020 season-ending tournaments in January.
Women's singles ace Ratchanok Intanon and women's doubles pair Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai were the other Thais remaining in the World Championships.
They were scheduled to play in the quarter-finals on Friday night.
In women's singles quarter-finals, top seed Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan defeated India's PV Sindhu 21-17, 21-13.
Tai assured herself of her first World Championships medal with a precise, mostly error-free display against Sindhu.
"More than winning a World Championships medal, I'm happy with the way I played. I didn't commit a lot of mistakes and that makes me very happy and satisfied," said Tai.
"In all my matches so far I have been patient, and that's the biggest positive for me. For the next match [against China's He Bingjiao], it's important to stay patient and not make mistakes."
India's Kidambi Srikanth too made certain of his first World Championships medal, making the semi-finals after beating Dutchman Mark Caljouw 21-8 21-7.
