Men's top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia moved into the round of 16 at the Badminton World Championships with a 21-11, 21-14 win over Nigeria's Ola Fagbemi Wednesday. Lee, the world's No.1-ranked player and silver medalist at last year's Olympics, set up a third-round clash with Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen, who ousted France's Brice Leverdez 21-14, 21-16. “I don't think I was at my 100 per cent best today, but so far so good,” said world number one Lee, seeking his maiden title at the championships. In a day of few surprises, all the favorites won through to the final 16. Third-seeded Dane Peter Gade had a 21-11, 21-12 victory over Japan's Sho Sasaki. Gade will next play Hong Kong's Yan Kit Chan after the 10th seed struggled past Ireland's Scott Evans 21-16, 19-21, 21-12. Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat, seeded fourth, had a 21-17, 21-15 win over France's Mathieu Lo Ying Ping. His next clash will be against Taiwan's Yu Hsing Hsieh, who edged Hong Kong's Wei Ng 24-22, 20-22, 21-18. Taufik will be joined in the last 16 by compatriot and sixth-seeded Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who downed Poland's Przemyslaw Wacha 21-12, 21-13. Simon Santoso also won, making it three Indonesians in round three. In the women's singles, No.1 seed Zhou Mi of Hong Kong also won Wednesday, defeating New Zealand's Michelle Chan Ky. She will come against Ai Goto in round three after the Japanese provided one of few upsets by ousting 14th-seed Malaysian Mew Choo Wong 18-21, 21-12, 23-21. “I am still trying to adapt to the conditions,” said Zhou, who represented China before qualifying to play for Hong Kong in 2007. Zhou remained on track for a quarterfinal clash with China's Xingfang Xie, who progressed with a 23-21, 18-10 ret. defeat of Bulgaria's Linda Zechiri. However the fifth-seeded must first overcome Thailand's Salakjit Ponsana, who also provided a minor upset by eliminating 16th-seeded Judith Meleundijks of the Netherlands 11-21, 21-16, 21-11. Fourth-seeded Yihan Wang had a 21-13, 21-16 victory over Scotland's Susan Eglestaff, and the Chinese will next face Germany's Juliane Schenk, who cruised to a 21-11, 21-9 win over Russia's Ella Diehl. Saina Nehwal, seeded sixth, gave Indian fans something to cheer with her 21-10, 21-17 defeat of Russia's Anastasia Prokopenko, while China's Lan Lu (No.7), France's Hongyan Pi (No.8) and Hong Kong's Chen Wang (No.9) were other leading players to progress.
