Taiwanese player Cheng Shao-chieh cruised into the top eight in the women’s singles at the World Badminton Championships in Paris on Thursday.
Cheng came back from losing the first set to beat her eighth-seeded German opponent Juliane Schenk 19-21, 21-13, 21-19.
Cheng successfully defended her title in the women’s singles at the Yonex Badminton Open in Taipei on Aug. 8.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Hsueh Hsuan-yi went through to the men’s singles quarter-finals on Thursday after trouncing his Thai challenger Boonsak Ponsana 21-13, 21-11.
Hsueh will meet fourth-seeded Chen Jin of China in his upcoming quarter-final match.
Taiwan’s Fang Chieh-min and Lee Sheng-mu breezed into the quarter-finals in the men’s doubles, while Cheng Wen-hsing and Chien Yu-chin made the women’s doubles top eight at the world’s most prestigious badminton championships that opened at the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium on Monday.
Cheng and Chien finished off their rivals from the Netherlands 21-14, 21-15 in a match that lasted just 26 minutes.
Fang and Lee, meanwhile, took 32 minutes to beat their Japanese opponents 21-19, 21-12.
Taiwan’s mixed doubles team of Chien Yu-chin and Lee Sheng-mu also achieved success, beating their South Korean rivals Yong Dae-lee and Hyo Jung-lee 21-17, 22-20 to face China’s Tao Jiaming and Zhang Yawen in the quarter-finals.
Some 400 of the world’s top badminton players are competing at the 2010 World Badminton Championships, which are to wrap up tomorrow.
Cheng outlasted Schenk to remain the only unseeded player in the women’s singles tournament.
“Before, there were big differences in the way I play and the results,” said the girl with the dragon tattoo. “Now I’m actually learning to control myself to have a more level game.”
Cheng has five tattoos, including a dragon on her left ankle, and won the Taipei Grand Prix this month.
Her career has been hampered by a nagging knee injury.
“It still affects me,” Cheng said. “It’s not completely healed but I try not to think about it. I’m not in a wheelchair, so I’m going to keep on playing.”
Cheng may be short, listed at 1.58m on the Web site of the Badminton World Federation. She may be ranked only 46th in the world. However, she has a 16-4 record this season and has been successful on the big stage in the past.
She won the bronze medal at the 2005 worlds and became a junior world champion in 2004.
Meanwhile, Eriko Hirose of Japan secured the biggest upset at championships on Thursday by knocking out the top-seeded Wang Yihan of China 20-22, 21-16, 21-18 in the third round.
“It is truly a memorable moment for me as this is my greatest ever achievement,” Hirose said. “You do not often beat the world No. 1 and doing it at this level is really something I did not expect.”
In the men’s singles, defending champion Lin Dan of China defeated compatriot Bao Chunlai 21-16, 21-13 in the third round.
Second-seeded Saina Nehwal of India became the favorite in the women’s singles after beating Ella Diehl of Russia 21-14, 21-18 to move into the quarter-finals.
“Now, because I’m the second seed, it’s tougher for me, because I have to give more than 100 percent to win in every match,” Nehwal said.
European champion Tine Baun of Denmark, Frenchwoman Pie Hongyan, and China’s Lin Wang, Wang Shixian and Wang Xin also advanced.
In the men’s tournament, top-ranked Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, European champion Peter Gade of Denmark, Chen Jin of China and 2004 Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia also advanced.
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