 Lin Dan eases into All England last 8
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-07 07:58 BIRMINGHAM, England: Chinese Olympic champion Lin Dan eased into the quarterfinals of the All England championships on Thursday with a comfortable 21-14, 21-13 win over unseeded compatriot Bao Chunlai. Chasing his fourth All England title, No 2 seed Lin next faces sixth-seed Joachim Persson who earlier beat fellow Dane Jan Jorgensen 21-15, 21-18. Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat, Olympic champion in 2004 but still chasing his first All England title, dropped the first game to home favorite Andrew Smith but recovered to win 15-21, 21-15, 21-16.
Smith, world No 21, told reporters: "I had chances but I didn't really take them." Seventh-seeded Taufik now meets fourth seed Peter Gade, 21-11, 21-16 winner over Hong Kong's Ng Wei, in a replay of the final 10 years ago when the Dane won to clinch the title. World No 1 and top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia advanced with a 21-18, 21-16 win over unseeded German Marc Zwiebler. He was joined in the last eight by titleholder and No 3 seed Chen Jin who brushed aside Chinese compatriot Gong Weijie 21-10, 21-10. There was disappointment for fifth seed and 2007 world championship runner-up Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia who had to pull out with a back injury, leaving unseeded Finnish player Ville Lang to progress to a quarterfinal with Lee. In the women's singles, second seed Zhou Mi of Hong Kong suffered a surprise defeat by unseeded Wang Yihan. The Chinese saved two match points before clinching victory 21-19, 18-21, 23-21. Wang will next play another former All-England champion from China, Xie Xingfang, the sixth seed, who won comfortably against Adrianti Firdasari of Indonesia. Top seed and world No 1 Tine Rasmussen of Denmark enjoyed an easy passage with a 21-12, 21-13 success over Ukraine's Larisa Griga. Agencies (China Daily 03/07/2009 page12) |
