Olympic champion Huang reaches 'double' doubles quarters at Denmark Open

ODENSE, Denmark - Tokyo Olympic badminton champion Huang Dongping secured quarterfinal berths in both the mixed and women's doubles here on Thursday at the BWF Denmark Open.

Huang and her Olympic title-winning partner Wang Yilyu outplayed French duo Thom Gicque and Delphine Delrue 23-21, 21-10 to book a spot in the mixed doubles last eight.

"They changed the pace and shuttle speed strategically, pushing us with good quality," said Huang.

"I'm feeling a bit exhausted both mentally and physically after the Cup games. Obviously we are not in the same good form as in previous tournaments, but we'll try our best to keep the fight going," she added.

Huang then partnered with Zheng Yu to progress to the women's doubles quarterfinals after edging Bulgarian pair Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva 11-21, 21-11, 21-17.

"We couldn't control the rally in first set before we made some strategic changes thereafter to overturn the game," said Zheng.

Paired with Du Yue, 20-year-old Feng Yanzhe beat Chang Tak Ching and Ng Wing Yung 21-15, 21-16 in another mixed doubles match.

Du, paired with Li Wenmei, also won her women's doubles match against Danish pair Amalie Magelund and Freja Ravn, 21-13, 21-7.

Elsewhere, 21-year-old talents Liu Xuanxuan and Xia Yuting dominated their match against Dutch duo Alyssa Tirtosentono and Imke van der Aar 21-10, 21-11 to reach the quarterfinals.

Lu Guangzu was outclassed by fourth-seeded Chou Tien-Chen from Chinese Taipei in the men's singles, losing too many points in a row in the first set to surrender 21-15, 21-18.

"It looks like my points were not won by my fight, but given to me by mistakes from Chou," said Lu, "The shuttle speed here is a bit fast and I did not take good control of it. Sometimes I was worried to smash out of line and couldn't use full power."

Having played an important role in the Sudirman Cup, Thomas Cup and Denmark Open, Lu remains aware of how far he needs to improve in order to beat the world leading players.

"If I had pushed a little bit more during the key rally, we might have seen a different scenario," Lu recalled.

Having taken a two-set win over Sayaka Takahashi in the Uber Cup final last Saturday, He Bingjiao, seeded sixth here, kept her dominance against the Japanese shuttler and won 21-14, 21-14 in the women's singles.

"I still remember how hard the fight was in the second set in the Uber Cup final, so I could not relax today," said 24-year-old He. "Sayaka played a tough game yesterday against Han Yue in three sets. I play with more power and energy. When I was tired, I did not think about it and just let my feelings go and kept a positive attitude."

He will now play 21-year-old Wang Zhiyi, after the latter overpowered Phittayaporn Chaiwan of Thailand 21-17, 21-6.