SHAH ALAM • Five-time world champion Lin Dan and women's singles world No. 1 Carolina Marin suffered shock defeats in the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Open yesterday.
World No. 2 Lin was stunned 21-17, 21-4 by Denmark's Jan Jorgensen in a match where the Chinese felt that he had been treated unfairly by the umpire.
"This is how the game goes, I am a little unhappy with the service judge because I felt that I was a victim of biased refereeing," he said.
Lin also expressed his disappointment in not being able to face Lee Chong Wei, who defeated another Dane, Viktor Axelsen, 21-14, 21-13, in the semi-finals but would not give up hope of playing the Malaysian in upcoming tournaments.
Meanwhile, China's Wang Yihan defeated Marin 21-13, 21-15 in only 37 minutes to make the semi-finals.
The Spaniard started poorly, succumbing to a fiery start from Wang and never looked to being able to keep up with the Chinese's momentum in both the first and second sets.
Elsewhere, Singapore's mixed doubles pair Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Vanessa Neo failed to stage another upset as they fell 21-17, 21-12 to China's world No. 1 and reigning Olympic champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei in their quarter-final match.
The Singapore duo, chasing after precious ranking points in their quest for a spot at the Rio Olympics in August, had hoped to earn a first semi-final spot at a Superseries Premier event. They beat world No. 8 Jordan Praveen and Debby Susanto of Indonesia on Thursday.
MALAYSIA OPEN
S-finals: StarHub Ch201, 1pm