Singapore's Olinda Cho has made it through to the third round of popular singing contest Sing! China after defeating Taiwan's Wang Chen- nuo in the episode scheduled to air last night.

She performed A-mei's Blue Sky to help her team, which is mentored by Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou, beat Wang from the team coached by Chinese singer Na Ying.

Cho, 37, tells The Straits Times: "I went back to the hotel room at 5am, realised, 'All right, Oly, you got in,' and then conked out at 5.01am."

Despite her progress, she is not getting carried away. "I want to do my best and fight the best fight I can, make it an honourable match and make it worth everyone's time for coming down and for watching," she says.

It helps that her confidence level has been boosted by Chou.

"He always asks me to be myself and stay the way I am. He likes the delivery of my music and says it's a very honest and direct approach.

"That's nice to hear from a mentor. He doesn't try to edit you, he just accepts you. He sees the core of you and says, 'This is good, just keep it up.'"

There are two more singers from Singapore in the contest - Singaporean Joanna Dong and Curley Gao, a Chinese student based here.

Gao, who is in Team Na Ying, also advanced to the next round in the episode scheduled to air last night, after performing Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine.

Last week, another local singer, Stella Seah, was eliminated after she sang Flow, an electronic dance music-infused Mandopop tune by Khalil Fong and Wang Lee Hom.

Cho said it was a "heartwrenching" match to watch, as her compatriot Seah was up against her team mate, Malaysian Tan Yin Ern.

Cho, the second runner-up of Singapore Idol in 2004, says: "Both of them have a place in my heart and are very close to me. Either one of them win and I would cry, either one of them lose and I would also cry."

• Sing! China airs on Jia Le Channel (Singtel TV Channel 502) on Fridays at 9pm, the same time as in China.