Birmingham: Taiwan’s World No. 1 and the defending women’s singles champion Tai Tzu-Ying progressed comfortably to the final eight of the 2018 All England, beating Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-15, 21-11 in 38 minutes.
Tai will play Japan’s Aya Ohori next.
Ohori, however, was given a tough challenge on Thursday as she had to fight tooth and nail but showed glimpses of her best, prevailing over Malaysia’s 18th year-old Goh Jin Wei 24-22, 21-18.
The Rio Olympic silver medalist and No. 5 seed Carolina Marin of Spain was riding high to see off Saena Kawakami of Japan 21-13, 21-17 to take on No. 2 seed Akane Yamaguchi.
No. 4 seeds women’s singles player PV Sindhu of India battled through a tough second round match at the All England to book her place in the quarter-finals at Arena Birmingham by beating Pornpawee Chochuwong 20-22, 21-17, 21-9. She now faces the challenge of Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, after the world champion comfortably wrapped up a 21-13, 21-15 win over Fitriani of Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Michelle Li of Canada who defeated No. 3 seed Ratchanok Intanon, couldn’t continue her strong form and ultimately went down to Mia Blichfeldt Denmark 21-19, 21-14.
In women’s doubles, China’s No. 1 seeds Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan will play Japan’s No. 5 seeds Shiho Tanaka/Koharu Yonemoto while No. 2 seeds Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi of Japan will meet compatriots Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara on Friday.
