<p>Saina Nehwal outclassed Pi Hongyan of France 21-10, 21-17 to advance to the women's singles quarterfinals of the All England badminton championships here on Thursday. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Saina, world no 4, beat Pi, number 23 in a little over half hour in the second round. The Indian will meet either Maria Febe Kusumastuti of Indonesia or China's Xuerui Li in the last eight stage.<br /><br /> The doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta, however, lost their second round match to the number two seeds Qing Tian and Yunlei Zhao of China 10-21, 15-21.<br /><br /> Chinese Lin Dan, a four-time an All England winner, kicked off his quest for a fifth title with a victory over India's Ajay Jayaram, winning 21-18, 21-15.<br /><br />Angry Gade bows out<br /><br />Former title winner Peter Gade of Denmark proved the highest profile loser on a marathon first-day's play which ended in the early hours of Thursday morning, nearly 17 hours after the first shuttle was struck.<br /><br />Observers and media struggled to recall a later finish in a major tournament and there was criticism from fourth seed Gade after his three-game loss to English champion Rajiv Ouseph. The duo started their match 70 minutes past midnight with Ouseph triumphing 17-21, 21-16, 21-14 to claim what could be regarded as the biggest win of his career.<br /><br />Gade, 35, All England champion in 1999, said: “No matter how crazy it sounds, we sort of expected this could happen because we saw the way they planned the tournament. Thirty-five minutes for each game, that's impossible.<br /><br />When the last point was won in a women's singles match involving China's world number two Wang Xin, there were around 20 people watching. Wang also bowed out in a contest that lasted just 31 minutes, beaten 21-8, 21-13 by South Korean Sung Ji-hyun.<br /><br />Organisers had attempted to stage 80 matches on the four courts with the final game estimated to start at 2120 but were undone by a glut of three-set matches, one lasting one hour and 27 minutes.<br /><br />Big names like titleholder Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan started their matches very late into the evening with the Chinese finishing after midnight.<br /><br />Lee, the Malaysian world No 1, beat unseeded Chinese Wang Zhengming 21-16, 21-11 to line up a match with talented Dane Hans-Kristian Vittinghus.</p>
<p>Saina Nehwal outclassed Pi Hongyan of France 21-10, 21-17 to advance to the women's singles quarterfinals of the All England badminton championships here on Thursday. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Saina, world no 4, beat Pi, number 23 in a little over half hour in the second round. The Indian will meet either Maria Febe Kusumastuti of Indonesia or China's Xuerui Li in the last eight stage.<br /><br /> The doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta, however, lost their second round match to the number two seeds Qing Tian and Yunlei Zhao of China 10-21, 15-21.<br /><br /> Chinese Lin Dan, a four-time an All England winner, kicked off his quest for a fifth title with a victory over India's Ajay Jayaram, winning 21-18, 21-15.<br /><br />Angry Gade bows out<br /><br />Former title winner Peter Gade of Denmark proved the highest profile loser on a marathon first-day's play which ended in the early hours of Thursday morning, nearly 17 hours after the first shuttle was struck.<br /><br />Observers and media struggled to recall a later finish in a major tournament and there was criticism from fourth seed Gade after his three-game loss to English champion Rajiv Ouseph. The duo started their match 70 minutes past midnight with Ouseph triumphing 17-21, 21-16, 21-14 to claim what could be regarded as the biggest win of his career.<br /><br />Gade, 35, All England champion in 1999, said: “No matter how crazy it sounds, we sort of expected this could happen because we saw the way they planned the tournament. Thirty-five minutes for each game, that's impossible.<br /><br />When the last point was won in a women's singles match involving China's world number two Wang Xin, there were around 20 people watching. Wang also bowed out in a contest that lasted just 31 minutes, beaten 21-8, 21-13 by South Korean Sung Ji-hyun.<br /><br />Organisers had attempted to stage 80 matches on the four courts with the final game estimated to start at 2120 but were undone by a glut of three-set matches, one lasting one hour and 27 minutes.<br /><br />Big names like titleholder Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan started their matches very late into the evening with the Chinese finishing after midnight.<br /><br />Lee, the Malaysian world No 1, beat unseeded Chinese Wang Zhengming 21-16, 21-11 to line up a match with talented Dane Hans-Kristian Vittinghus.</p>
