Sydney: China’s two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan suffered a quarter-final defeat at the Australian Open on Friday.
The 35-year-old Lin, lost to Indonesia’s 21-year-old Jonatan Christie 9-21 in the first set. Lin however wasted a 12-8 lead in the second set before crashing out 22-24.
Christie will play No. 1 seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan in the semi-final.
The top seed Chou overcame Malaysia’s Soong Joo Ven 2-14, 21-8 in the quarter-final.
Also through to the penultimate round was Taiwan’s Wang Tzu Wei, after he defeated Kazumasa Sakai of Japan 21-18, 21-16. Wang will battle No. 2 seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia for a final berth.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying put up fierce battle before losing to Indonesian pair Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti 18-21, 20-22 in the last eight.
In the women’s event, top seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan was through to the semi-finals with a 21-17, 21-13 victory over Yeo Jia Min of Singapore.
Awaiting Okuhara in the last four was fourth-seeded Thai Ratchanok Intanon, a 21-18, 21-11 winner at the expense of No. 5 seed Sung Ji Hyun.
