The duo defeated Julie Gordon and Shanice Marcelle 21-18, 20-22, 15-11 in their second qualifying match of the day at Port Dickson.

They had trailed in the third set but managed to overcome their Canadian opponents at the three-star event. 

“It was unbelievable,” Quiggle said. 

“We were both sitting there so relieved. 

"It took both of us stepping up and pulling us up as a team, and giving it our all, being aggressive in tight situations. 

"We were down and we knew that we had to go for every ball.”

Dowdy and Quiggle had eased past Romania’s Beata Viada and Ioana-Alexandra Ordean 21-14, 21-11 earlier in the day. 

Sydney three-star gold medallists Nicole Laird and Becchara Palmer crashed out in the second stage of qualification, the Australian pair losing 25-23, 21-13 to Poland's Monika Brzostek and Aleksandra Wachowicz.

The women's main draw will feature the likes of German Olympic champion Laura Ludwig and team-mate Margareta Kozuch, as well as Czech pair Barbora Hermannová and Marketa Slukova.

In the men's competition, Italy's Enrico Rossi and Adrian Carambula, who finished runners-up at last week's four-star event in Xiamen, also progressed to the main rounds. 

They secured a comfortable 21-11, 21-15 victory against Canada’s Aaron Nusbaum and Michael Plantinga.

The main draw will begin tomorrow.