Chinese badminton stars pulled off impressive victories to move forward in their respective categories in the ongoing 2016 Indonesia Open Super Series Premier tournament held at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.
World no. 4 Wang Yihan initiated the Chinese onslaught on Tuesday morning with a 21-19, 21-18 win over world no. 14 Michelle Li of Canada, Xinhuanet reported. The 28-year-old former world no. 1 was given a decent fight by the Canadian, but she was able to pull through in straight sets.
Recent Uber Cup winner, third-seeded Li Xuerui, escaped a tough challenge from the host nation's Ruselli Hartawan to come from behind, 16-21, 21-8, and 21-11. The 25-year-old London Olympics gold medal winner, who is also a two-time champion of the said event, needed 42 minutes to dispatch her opponent and advance in the second round together with Wang.
Meanwhile, two of their compatriots, He Bingjiao and Wang Shixian, also defeated their first round rivals to set-up an all-China second round encounter. He turned back Minatsu Mitani of Japan, 21-16, 17-21, and 21-12 while Wang beat South Korea's Bae Yeon-ju, 21-12, 15-21, and 21-12.
Finally in the Women's Singles competitions, Sun Yu dominated Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon in straight sets, 21-15, 21-18, to become the fifth Chinese to move to the next round.
In the Mixed Doubles, five Chinese duos advanced in the second round as first seeds Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei defeated Malaysia's Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying, 21-18, 21-17, while sixth seeds Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin dismantled their South Korean rivals Lee Yong-dae and Lee So-hee, 21-19, 21-19.
They will however face their fellow countrymen Liu Yuchen and Tang Jinhua in the next round as the tandem defeated Markis Kido and Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth of Indonesia, 21-9, 21-9.
Other winning pairs were fifth-seeds Xu Chen and Ma Jin trouncing the host team of Hafiz Faisal and Shella Devi Aulia, 21-16, 21-16, and Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong, who stunned the eight-seeded pair of Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto of Indonesia.
Meanwhile, in the Men's division, qualifier Huang Yuxiang moved to the second round after his opponent, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, retired in the third set of their match. Huang lost the first set 16-21 before he returned the favor in the second set, 21-16. He was leading by four points, 8-4, in the final set when the Danish quit because of injury.
Huang qualified in the main draw after defeating Indonesia's Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo, 21-14, 21-19, as per Inside the Games.