Night of upsets at China Open quarters
Shanghai (AFP) - World women's singles champion Ratchanok Intanon was one of six top-four seeds to fall at the China Open quarter-finals Friday.
The second seeded Intanon lost a tense first set before losing 24-22, 21-10 to number seven seed Wang Shixian.
In a separate upset Wang Yihan, the 2011 champion and number three seed, was also forced out of the tournament.
Despite raucous hometown support, Wang fell to unseeded Portnip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand 21-16, 18-21, 21-16 in the night?s most competitive match.
The results clear an easier path for top seeded Li Xuerui to successfully defend her title. Li overcame the feisty Yu Sun, who had dispatched number six seed Saina Nehwal of India the day before.
The absence of Men?s singles top seed Lee Chong Wei to injury has made it an especially unpredictable tournament.
China?s Wang Zhengming outplayed number three seed Du Pengyu 21-17, 21-8 leaving defending champion Chen Long as the lone seeded men?s singles player.
Chen put on a dominating performance leading 21-10, 14-1 before Malaysia?s Daren Liew left with an injury. Malaysia?s Wei Feng Chong and Japan?s Kento Momota also advanced to the semi-finals.
It was a similar situation in men?s doubles after the number four and six seeds were also knocked out.
Third seeded Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa of Korea made it to the next round after dispatching England?s Chris Adcock and Gabrielle White.
One year after making their return to competition following a controversial Olympic scandal, top seeded women?s duo Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang put on a dominating performance winning in just 17 minutes.
It was a good day for China as all three of their women?s team will play in the semi-finals.
The contenders stayed strong in mixed-doubles with top-seeded pair Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei of China, second seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia and number four Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark all winning.
