KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Olympic badminton champion Chen Yufei of China stayed on course for the Malaysia Open title after beating Spain's Carolina Marin 21-18, 21-19 on Friday to reach the women's singles semifinals.
Chen will face An Se-young for a spot in the final, after the South Korea second seed edged China's Wang Zhiyi 21-17, 16-21, 21-19.
Former champion Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei outplayed teammate Hsu Wen-chi 21-6, 21-8.
China showed strength in the women's doubles as two Chinese pairs advanced to the semifinals. World champions Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan progressed with a 21-17, 21-17 victory over Bulgaria's Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva, while Zhang Shuxian/Zheng Yu prevailed over Li Wenmei/Liu Xuanxuan 21-19, 21-19 in an all-Chinese quarterfinal.
In men's doubles, China's Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang booked their semifinal spot by overcoming Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 22-20, 23-21 in a close match.
However, Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi, also from China, were ousted by India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty 17-21, 22-20, 21-9.
In mixed doubles, China's Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong thrashed France's Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue 21-15, 21-6 to reach the last four.
Meanwhile, world champion Viktor Axelsen eased past Japan's Kenta Nishimoto 21-6, 21-12 to enter the men's singles semifinals.
The Malaysia Open runs from Jan. 10 to 15. ■
