Opting to rest world No 2 Akane Yamaguchi, the 5-time champions, who trounced on Sunday, sent in world No 9 Nozomi Okuhara as the first singles player and she did not let the team down, edging Canadian-Hon Kong Michelle Li 21-16 21-17.

Asian Championships gold medalists Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota then teamed up to beat Rachel Honderich and Kristen Tsai 21-14 21-9 before 2017 Indonesian Open winner won the third point for Japan by dispatching Brittaney Tam 21-14 21-14.

Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto beat Anne-Julie Beaulieu and Stephanie Pakenham 21-5 21-13 in the second doubles before world No 17 Sayaka Takahashi clinched the whitewash with a 21-10 21-11 win over Catherine Choi.

In Group D, defending champions China opened their campaign with another 5-0 win, over France.

Thai women won their second succesive ties after they beat Hong Kong 5-0 to become the leader in Group B wuth two wins. They will play Taiwan on Wednesday.

In the men’s Thomas Cup Denmark, who two years ago became the first European winners in the tournament’s history, routed Algeria 5-0, the same score as Malaysia’s win over Russia.

The Thai men, after a 3-2 opening defeat to South Korea in Group B on Sunday, next play Indonesia on Tuesday evening.