Yamaguchi, Chen cruise into semis at Badminton Asia Championships

DUBAI -- Top-seeded Akane Yamaguchi of Japan edged defending champion Wang Zhiyi of China in a three-set thriller to reach the women's singles semifinals at the Badminton Asia Championships here on Friday.

Wang's title defense came to an end on her birthday as Yamaguchi, who was beaten by Wang in last year's final, bounced back in straight sets 21-14, 21-17 after losing the first 21-13.

Yamaguchi will take on Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu-ying, who knocked out Wang's teammate He Bingjiao in 64 minutes.

Olympic champion Chen Yufei secured the only women's singles semifinals berth for China after defeating Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia 21-10, 19-21, 21-13. Chen will next meet South Korean shuttler An Se-young.

In the men's singles, favorite Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia advanced to the semifinals as he recovered from one set down to beat China's Li Shifeng 10-21, 23-21, 26-24 in an intense 82-minute match.

"I am happy with my performance today, it was a very tough match," said Ginting. The Indonesian will face Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama in the semifinals.

China's Lu Guangzu downed fourth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan to reach the semifinals and will take on Singapore's seventh seed Loh Kean Yew.

In the doubles events, Chinese women pair Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan suffered a surprise loss to Japan's Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, while Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang were also upset by Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei in the men's doubles.

In the mixed doubles, top seed Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong thrashed Indonesian pair Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti 21-11, 21-17.

Zheng and Huang will face Malaysian duo Goh Soon Huat/Lai Shevon Jemie, while the other mixed doubles semifinal clash will feature China's Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin and Indonesian pair Dejan Ferdinansyah/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.