China's number one seeds Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan booked their place in the semifinals of the BWF World Badminton Championships in Spain on Friday.
In women's singles, He Bingjiao beat Han Yue 21-16, 21-18 in an all-Chinese affair and Zhang Yiman also made it into the semis for the women's singles for the first time.
Chinese men's doubles pair He Jiting/Tan Qiang also secured a semifinal spot after upsetting Tokyo Olympic Games silver medalists Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong from Malaysia 22-20, 21-14 on Thursday.
However, in the men's singles, China's Zhao Junpeng was edged out in the quarter-final against Lakshya Sen 21-15, 15-21 and 22-20 in a tie where the result was in doubt until the very last play.
China's Zhao Junpeng reacts during his men's singles match against India's Lakshya Sen at the BWF World Championships in Huelva, Spain, December 17, 2021. /CFP
The Chinese duo of Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan are the favorites to win the competition that is being held in the southwest Spanish city of Huelva and the Olympic silver medalists defeated their Japanese rivals, Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 21-13, 21-17 in a match that lasted for 45 minutes, but where they always held a slight advantage.
"It's not easy to get to the semifinals, all of our rivals are tough and have won titles in the previous season," Chen told Xinhua, while Jia was hoping to finally end their medal drought.
"We didn't win any medal in the 2018 or 2019 Worlds, so hopefully we can fight through this time."
"We have got through a lot of difficulties together and we always trust each other," she said.
Chen also looked ahead to Saturday's semifinal against another Japanese pairing, Muyu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara. This is a repeat of their meeting in the final of the Uber Cup, which the Chinese pair won after a marathon 117 match.
China's He Bingjiao returns a shot at the BWF World Championships in Huelva, Spain, December 17, 2021. /CFP
In women's singles, He Bingjiao will face a difficult semifinal tie against Tai Tzu-Ying after the top seed overcame India's sixth seeded Pusarla V Sindhu 21-17, 21-13.
Zhang Yiman will play Japan's Akane Yamaguchi after beating Thailand's number 7 seed Ratchanok Intanon 23-21, 21-9, racing away with the second set after a close opener.
In mixed doubles, the fifth seeded pairing of Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet had an easy passage into the last four as they defeated the German pairing Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Lohau 21-11, 21-10.
(With input from Xinhua)