2009 Badminton World Championships: fifth day

 Friday August 14th Results - Major upset at the quarter-finals today at the World Championships, as both the women's and men's number one seeds bowed out.  Lee Chong Wei (at left) exited 21-16, 14-21, 21-China's Lin Dan watches as his return to Denmark's Peter Gade clears the net during their quarterfinals men's singles match at the World Badminton Championship in Hyderabad August 14, 2009.12 to Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia who capitalized on his cross-court smashes.  Wei's net play was well under par, and it cost him the match in the end.
 
Lin Dan (at right) is one step closer to defending his title, after he defeated the Danish shuttler Peter Hoeg Gade in one of the most thrilling match-ups of the day.  The final tally ended up 22-20, 21-16 in Dan's favor.  This will set up a semi-final meeting with number six Sony Dwi Kuncoro.  The other semi-final will see Taufik Hidayat and number two seeded Jin Chen.  Hidayat won against Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark  21-19, 21-19, after trailing 19-17 in the opening set. Chen was in control of his quarter-final match the whole way and beat Indonesia's Simon Santoso 21-10, 21-13.
 
In the women's quarters it was number one seeded Zhou Mi who lost 21-15, 21-18 to China's former champion Xingfang Xie. Xie seemed to tire Mi with long rallies and deep court play.  Xingfang will now face France's Pi Hongyan in the semi-finals. Pi was able to come back 15-21, 21-15, 21-19 to Germany's Juliane Schenk.  Seventh seeded Lu Lan ended third seeded Tine Rasmussen's hopes after a  21-15, 21-13 match that was filled with unforced errors.  Rasmussen had been off for four months before the tournament with a heel injury said afterwards,  "I'm playing after a long time, I was not very confident, today my fitness level was not there."  Saina Nehwal could not capture the magic she experienced at the Indonesian Open, as she lost 21-16, 21-19 to Wang Lin of China.          
 
Women's doubles:
 China's Zhao Yunlei returns a shot as teammate Cheng Shu (L) watches during their women's doubles match against Taiwan's Cheng Wen-hsing and Chien Yu-chin in the quarter-finals of the World Badminton Championship in Hyderabad August 14, 2009.
 
China's Shu Cheng and Yunlei Zhao (at left) won 11-21, 21-11, 21-8 against Wen Hsing Chen and Yu Chin Chien of Taipei.  They will now face fellow Chinese shuttlers Jin Ma and Xiaoli Wang.  Yawen Zhang and Tingting Zhao of China will meet Jing Du and Yang (f) Yu, also of China in the other semi-final.

Men's doubles:
 
In the men's semi-finals it will be number four versus number two: Korea's Jae Sung Jung and Yong Dae Lee and Kien Keat Koo and Boon Heong Tan of Malaysia, who both had easy quarter-final matches to get here.  In the other match-up for Saturday number eight meets number five in Mohd Zakry Adul Latif and Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari of Indonesia, and China's Yun Cai and Haifeng Fu.
 
Mixed doubles:
 
Denmark's Joachim Fischer Nielsen and teammate Christinna Pedersen (L) reach for the shuttlecock during their quarter-finals mixed doubles match against China's He Hanbin and Yu Yang at the World Badminton Championships in Hyderabad August 14, 2009.
 Denmark's Kamilla Rytter Juhl (L) and teammate Thomas Laybourn celebrate their win over China's Zheng Bo and Ma Jin in their quarter-finals mixed doubles match at the World Badminton Championships in Hyderabad August 14, 2009.
Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark (at left) knocked out number four Hanbin He and Yang (f) Yu of China 21-10,21-17 in 41 minutes.  Thomas Laybourn & Kamilla Rytter Juhl (at right) knocked out number three Bo Zheng and Jin Ma of China.  Nova Widianto & Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia beat India's own Diju Valiyaveetil & Jwala Gutta 21-16,21-14. Number one ranked Yong Dae Lee and Hyo Jung Lee of Korea advance after thier 21-16,21-16 win against number five ranked Zhongbo Xie and Yawen Zhang of China.     
 

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