SYDNEY, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The top-seeded Chinese pairings of Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping and Guo Xinwa/Chen Fanghui advanced to the mixed doubles semifinals at the Australian Badminton Open after winning their quarterfinals here on Friday.
The world No. 1 duo of Feng and Huang defeated the Japanese team of Akira Koga/Natsu Saito 21-14, 21-18 at Sydney's Olympic Park to set up a semifinal against the fifth-seeded American team of Presley Smith/Jennie Gai.
In the other mixed doubles semifinal, Guo and Chen, who beat Indonesia's Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 21-11, 21-14, will face Thailand's Ruttanapak Oupthong/Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat in a match between the second and third seeds.
China will also have two teams in the men's doubles semifinals, with second seeds Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang and fourth seeds Chen Boyang/Liu Yi to face off.
Liang and Wang advanced to the semifinals by defeating South Korea's Kang Min-hyuk/Ki Dong-ju 21-19, 21-9 while Chen/Liu downed compatriots Huang Di/Liu Yang 21-7, 21-16.
Jia Yifan/Zhang Shuxian, the world No. 5 and top seeds in the women's doubles draw, reached the semifinals with a 21-13, 18-21, 21-15 win over Chinese Taipei's sixth seeds Hsu Ya Ching/Sung Yu-Hsuan.
In the men's singles quarterfinals, Dong Tianyao beat Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong, China 22-20, 21-19, while Hu Zhe'an was knocked out in three games. ■
