(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-13 19:45

TOKYO - After losing his first game in two tournaments, China's Lin Dan picked up the pace to defeat Malaysia's Hashim M. Roslin 21-11, 18-21, 21-11 Thursday and advance to the men's singles quarterfinals at the Yonex Open Japan badminton tournament.

In the women's bracket, top-seeded Zhang Ning of China downed England's Tracey Hallam 21-11, 23-21 while second-seeded Xie Xingfang, also of China, coasted to a 21-9, 21-15 win over Malaysia's Wong Mew Choo.

After breezing through the first game, top-seeded World No. 1 Lin found himself being pushed by his opponent and was unable to adjust.

"He turned it up a notch and I was unable to change my game," said Lin. "Fortunately, I recovered after that."

Lin won his second consecutive world championship in Kuala Lumpur last month where he didn't drop a single game.

He is the two-time defending champion at the Yonex Open and is bidding to become the first player to win here three years in a row.

In the third game of Thursday's match, Lin took advantage of unforced errors by Hashim to jump out to a 6-2 lead.

Lin kept the pace up, taking a 20-11 lead with a crosscourt smash and then closing out the match when Hashim's return off Lin's match-point serve went long.

"I had a week off after the world championships and I'm starting to feel more comfortable here," said Lin.

In the quarterfinals on Friday Lin will face sixth-seeded Peter Gade of Denmark, who was a 21-9, 21-18 winner over Hong Kong's Wei Ng.

"He's beatable," Gade said of his quarterfinal showdown with Lin. "I beat him last summer at the China Masters. I just have to not give away too many points and adjust to the pace of the match."

Gade won this tournament in 1998 and 1999 and said it's important for European players to keep developing.

"We need to develop our younger players more," said Gade. "If you look at what they are doing in countries like Malaysia and China it's clear to see we are falling behind."

In other second round matches, fourth-seeded Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia recovered from a shaky start to defeat Ronald Susilo of Singapore 19-21, 21-8, 21-10.

China's Chen Jin, who is seeded fifth, coasted to a 21-16, 21-14 win over South Korea's Lee Hyun-ji to move on to the quarterfinals.