HAIKOU - Women's singles defending champion Wang Manyu of China beat Japan's Kaho Akae in straight games, while Wong Chun-ting of Hong Kong, China upset Japanese paddler Tomokazu Harimoto in the men's singles at the Asian Cup group stage here on Thursday.

Wang showed a good form when up against the 21-year-old Akae and seized her second consecutive win in the group stage 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 to book a slot in the last 16.

"We didn't compete with each other very often, so I prepared more before the match. I am satisfied with my execution today and gradually found my rhythm to take the win," said Wang, 26.

Wong felt excited after defeating world No 5 Harimoto 11-9, 11-9, 3-11, 11-8. "I finally ended my losing streak against Harimoto. I am decisive in each game today and really enjoyed the competition," he said.

"I communicated with players of Team China to seek advice, Xue Fei in particular, before the match against Harimoto. I also want to thank the fans here for supporting me," Wong noted.

The tournament running from Wednesday to Sunday features men's singles and women's singles events. The group stage adopts a round-robin format with 32 players divided into eight groups in each event, and the top two players in each group will advance to the knockout stage.

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In other group matches, China's Wang Chuqin, Lin Shidong, Xiang Peng, Zhou Qihao, Sun Yingsha, Chen Xingtong and Kuai Man all claimed their second straight wins to secure berths in the next stage.

While other paddlers from Team China including Chen Junsong, Chen Yuanyu, Wang Yidi and Chen Yi suffered losses on Thursday.

The players listed for the knockout stage will be decided after the last round of group matches on Friday.