BIRMINGHAM — Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal saw the singles draw open up for her Thursday but the Indian must first overturn a Chinese hoodoo in the quarterfinals of the All-England Championships. The third seed had to show speed, control and variation to see off Kim Hyo Min of Chinese Taipei 21-15, 21-15 and set up a last-eight showdown with Wang Yihan, the 2009 winner. The only time Nehwal has beaten Wang came via a retirement and the Chinese holds an 8-1 career lead. A win for either player will open a path to Sunday's final after Olympic champion Li Xuerui's surprise defeat by compatriot Sun Yu. Sun, the world No. 18, triumphed 21-13, 21-13 to secure a meeting with Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon, the No. 8 seed. World champion Carolina Marin of Spain remained on track for a first All-England title with a straight-games win over Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand. In the men's singles, defending champion Chen Long dispatched Chinese Taipei's Jen Hao Hsu 21-7 21-9. Olympic champion Lin Dan beat his Chinese compatriot and fellow left-hander Tian Houwei 21-15, 21-19 to reach the quarterfinals. Lin now plays Kento Momota, the unseeded but in-form Japanese player, who followed his defeat of the fourth-seeded Indian, Kidambi Srikanth, with a victory over the German, Marc Zwiebler, a former All-England semi-finalist. If Lin comes through that he may face another compatriot, the top-seeded Long. — Agencies
