Olympic badminton champion Chen Yufei of China stayed on course for the Malaysia Open title after beating Spain's Carolina Marin 21-18, 21-19 in Kuala Lumpur on Friday to reach the women's singles semifinals. 

Despite the Spanish star's world ranking having slipped to No. 9 due to injuries, Marin still posed a great challenge to the Chinese shuttler. The two players swapped the lead several in the intense 57-minute game. 

Chen will face An Se-young for a spot in the final, after the South Korean second seed edged China's Wang Zhiyi 21-17, 16-21, 21-19. 

Former champion Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei outplayed teammate Hsu Wen-chi 21-6, 21-8. 

Meanwhile, China showed strength in the women's doubles as two Chinese pairs advanced to the semifinals. World champions Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan progressed with a 21-17, 21-17 victory over Bulgaria's Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva, while Zhang Shuxian/Zheng Yu prevailed over Li Wenmei/Liu Xuanxuan 21-19, 21-19 in an all-Chinese quarterfinal.

In men's doubles, world No. 17, China's Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang, booked their semifinal spot by upsetting Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 22-20, 23-21 in a close match.

However, world No. 6, Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi, also from China, were ousted by India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty 17-21, 22-20, 21-9. 

In mixed doubles, first-seeded China's Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong thrashed France's Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue 21-15, 21-6 to reach the last four, securing a consecutive 18 wins on their way to claim the first title in the new season.

Meanwhile, world champion Viktor Axelsen eased past Japan's Kenta Nishimoto 21-6, 21-12 to enter the men's singles semifinals.

(With input from Xinhua)