Li Xiaoxia enters table tennis semifinals

LONDON - China's Li Xiaoxia trounced Dutch Li Jiao in straight sets to advance into the Olympic table tennis women's singles semifinals on Tuesday.

Xiaoxia beat the former Chinese player 11-5, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7.

Earlier world champion Ding Ning beat Japanese Ai Fukuhara 4-0 for a semifinal berth.

Ding, also World Cup winner, fought a close game at the beginning before pulling away for a 15-13, 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 victory.

Japanese Kasumi Ishikawa downed Singapore's Wang Yue Gu 8-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-8, 11-4 to reach the last four.

Wang's teammate Feng Tianwei sailed into the semifinals with a 13-11, 11-7, 4-11, 11-6, 10-12, 12-10 win over the world top defensive player, Kim Kyung-Ah from South Korea.

In the semifinals later in the day, Ding Ning will take on Feng with Li against Ishikawa.

China's Ding Ning hits a return to Japan's Ai Fukuhara in their women's singles quarterfinals table tennis match at the ExCel venue during the London 2012 Olympic Games July 31, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]