SHAH ALAM, April 8 — World number six, Wang Yihan of China tamed world number one Carolina Marin of Spain in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Malaysia Open Badminton Championship at Malawati Stadium here today.

Yihan only took 37 minutes to defeat Marin 21-13, 21-15 to qualify for the semifinals tomorrow.

Yihan had a blazing start, leading 8-1 before wrapping up the first set and kept the momentum in the second to deny the top seed and defending champion.

“Carolina is a strong opponent. She never gives up. I managed to control the game from the start. In the second set, I was rushing to finish the game and made lots of mistakes and let Carolina to collect more points,” she said.

Yihan will meet Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand or P V. Sindhu of India tomorrow.

On the men’s side, rising Indonesian star Jonatan Christie showed Rajiv Ouseph of England the exit to secure his semifinals spot.

Jonatan, 18, making his debut in the Malaysian Open, will square off against either world number one Chen Long or Tian Houwei, both from China.

Jonatan, who started as a qualifier, beat Ouseph 21-19, 21-19.

“I was quite uncomfortable about the draft in the stadium which caused me to make many mistakes,” he said. “I then changed my strategy so as not be be ruffled by the draft.”

Jan O Jorgensen triumphant as Lin Dan (in background) walks off, claiming distraction of umpire’s decisions. — Bernama pic

Superstar Lin Dan, currently ranked third in the world, lost in the quarterfinals to Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark 21-17, 21-4.

Lin Dan claimed the umpire’s decisions distracted his performance in the second set.

Jorgensen took 32 minutes to defeat Lin Dan, but he said the two-time Olympic champion had not shown his best performance in the battle.

“The second set was flawless from my side and he did lots of mistakes and in the end it was more easy than I expected. I’m still happy with my game.

“Lin Dan is one of the legends, I grew up watching him play, he is my idol,” said Jorgensen.

In doubles, world number two Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia was booted out by Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding of Denmark in the quarterfinals.

In the gruelling match, the Indonesian duo made lots of mistakes, which contributed winning points to their opponents to win 21-18, 17-21, 21-17.

Another among the top seeds, Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan of China also crashed out from the quarterfinals, losing to South Kore’s Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang 15-21, 21-19, 21-17.

China’s women’s doubles Tang Yuanting/Yu Yang won through to the semifinals, defeating Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi of Japan 14-21, 21-17, 21-18. — Bernama