TOKYO, April 5: Last year’s All England champion Pullela Gopichand defeated Wu Yunyong of China 7-8, 7-1, 8-6, 2-7, 7-5 to reach the Japan Open badminton tournament semifinals.

Gopichand, who needed five games to beat both Indonesia’s world champion Hendrawan and Korean Open winner Lin Dan of China, came through another five-gamer to beat the Chinese.

Unseeded Keita Masuda became the first Japanese in 20 years to reach the semifinals by beating Chinese fifth seed Bao Chunlai 8-6, 7-2, 7-1.

On Saturday, Masuda will challenge Asian champion Xia Xuanze.

China dominated the women’s Zhang Ning and Dai Yun, as well as former national team member Wang Chen who represents Hong Kong here, advancing to the semi-finals.

“It was very tough like yesterday, it was very close, it could have gone either way,” said Gopichand.

“If you get two points in a row, it’s always the problem in a seven-point game. Two points make a lot of difference,” Gopichand said of his two misfired sing to keep my head up. It’s just great. I hope I can go a little bit (further) in the tournament,” added Gopchand.

Collated results (x denotes seeds; several seedings are held jointly):

WOMEN’S (singles quarterfinals):

Zhou Mi (Chn x1) bt Hu Ting (Chn x5) 7-4, 7-3, 7-3; Wang Chen (Hkg x5) bt Gong Ruina (Chn x3) 7-4, 8-6, 4-7, 3-7, 8-6; Zhang Ning (Chn x3) bt Kanako Yonekura (Jpn x5) 5-7, 4-7, 7-1, 7-5, 7-0; Dai Yun (Chn x5) bt Xie Xingfang (Chn) 7-2, 4-7, 3-7, 7-0, 7-5;

MEN’S (singles quarterfinals)

Xia Xuanze (Chn x1) bt Chen Yu (Chn x9) 8-6, 7-1, 8-7; Keita Masuda (Jpn) bt Bao Chunlai (Chn x5) 8-6, 7-2, 7-1; Pullela Gopichand (Ind x9) bt Wu Yunyong (Chn) 7-8, 7-1, 8-6, 2-7, 7-5; Lee Hyun-Il (Kor x5) bt Hafiz Muhammad Hashim (Mas x9) 4-7, 7-4, 7-3, 8-7.—AFP

The name, Pullela Gopichand, was inadvertently misspelt in this story. The error is regretted and has now been rectified.