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Olympic champion Lin advances, Danish seeds out of China Masters
http://www.sports.cn/ 2009-09-17 20:06:00

CHANGZHOU, Jiangsu Province, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Olympic and three times world champion Lin Dan sailed into the quarterfinals of the China Masters badminton super series here on Thursday while Danish seeds Tine Rasmussen and Joachim Persson were stunned by Chinese youngsters.

Lin beat Hsien Yu Hsin of Chinese Taipei 21-15, 21-19 on his way to meet world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia who battered Rajiv Ouseph of England 21-15, 21-8 in just 26 minutes.

Lee, Beijing Olympics runner-up, said he hoped to face Lin.

"I was doing well today and I wished I could carry on the form to go further in the top half," said the 27-year-old. "Hopefully Ican play Lin Dan in the semifinals because he is my biggest rival."

Rasmussen, yet to find her best form coming back from a five-month rest due to injury, was met with by far the biggest surprise of the tournament when the third seed surrendered to Chinese qualifier Wang Xin 21-17, 16-21, 14-21 in the second round. She was made sweat in the opening round, scraping through another Chinese qualifier Zhang Yuchun 12-21, 21-15, 21-13. "It was not a surprise for me because I am not at my highest level after my injury for five months," said the 29-year-old who returned to action in August.

In a later match, her compatriot Persson, seeded fifth, waved goodbye to the Olympic Center Stadium after losing a hard-fought match 22-20, 14-21, 20-22 to China's Du Pengyu, 21 in the men's singles.

In the mixed doubles, China captured seven of the eight spots in the third round.

As South Korea's top seed and Beijing Olympics winners Lee YongDae and Lee Hyo Jung pulled out of the event due to Lee's injury, Ko Sung Hyun/Ha Jung Eun became the sole non-Chinese pair in the third round after overcoming fellow South Korean Shin Baek Cheol/Jang Ye Na 21-23, 21-11, 21-16. They next meet Beijing Games bronze medalists He Hanbin/Yu Yang.

In women's singles, world number one Zhou Mi from Hong Kong, China raced to win the second round 21-7, 21-17 over Japanese Shizuka Uchida but Hong Kong's Wang Chen retired due to knee injury, sending 19-year-old Malaysian Golden Grand Prix winner Wang Shixian into the third round.