TOKYO, April 3: Two-time champion Peter Gade of Denmark dashed Lee Hyun-Il’s hopes of defending his Japan Open men’s singles badminton title with a hard won third round victory Thursday.

The former world number one, who lost to the South Korean in the Surdirman Cup last month, gained sweet revenge as he overcame a 9-14 deficit in the first game to snatch a 17-14, 15-8 win over the seventh seed.

Asian Games gold medallist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia survived five match points in the second game before overcoming China’s Chen Yu 12-15, 17-16, 15-5.

The two top seeds, China’s former All England champions Chen Hong and Xia Xuanze, stayed on course after beating 2001 Japan Open winner Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia and Marleve Mainaky of Indonesia respectively.

A happy Gade described his victory over Lee as an important milestone in his return from a nine-month lay-off after knee surgery. He has only been playing again since September and had to go through qualifying rounds here.

Fifth seed Hidayat was down one game and 13-14 in the second before staging a remarkable comeback in the 97-minute match against Chen, against whom he has never lost.

In the quarterfinals, Gade will take on second seed Xia, while Hidayat will play Ng Wei of Hong Kong, who beat Saman Ismail of Malaysia 17-14, 17-16.

In the women’s singles first round, 1998 Asian Games champion Kanako Yonekura of Japan crashed out to Pi Hongyan of France, while Atlanta Olympic silver medallist Mia Audina Tjiptawan of the Netherlands bowed out to Jun Jae-Youn of South Korea.

But there were no surprises in the second round as China’s Zhang Ning, Zhou Mi, Gong Ruina, Xie Xingfang and former Chinese representatives Pi and Wang Chen and Camilla Martin of Denmark advanced to the quarterfinals.

Women’s singles first round

Zhang Ning bt Kyoko Komuro 11-4, 11-2; Yu Hirayama bt Karina De Wit

11-3, 11-3; Camilla Martin bt Zhu Lin 11-0, 11-0; Salakjit Polsana bt

Juliane Schenk 11-2, 7-11, 11-6; Zhou Mi bt Charmaine Reid 11-8, 11-5;

Kim Kyeung-Ran bt Julia Mann 11-6, 11-1; Pi Hongyan bt Kanako Yonekura

11-8, 11-6; Petra Overzier bt Ling Wan-ting 13-11, 11-6; Nicole Grether

bt Yao Jie 6-11, 11-9, 11-4; Xie Xingfang bt Sachiko Sekimoto 11-3,

12-13, 11-3; Bae Seung-Hee bt Judith Meulendijks 7-11, 11-5, 11-6;

Gong Ruina bt Luisa Koon Wai-chee 11-2, 11-7; Marina Andrievskaya bt

Tracey Hallam 11-6, 1-11, 9-7, ret; Jun Jae-Youn bt Mia Audina Tjiptawan

8-11, 11-7, 11-0; Liu Jian bt Miho Tanaka 6-11, 13-10, 11-4; Wang Chen

bt Kaori Mori 11-5, 6-11, 11-8

Men’s singles third round:

Chen Hong bt Muhammad Roslin Hashim 15-3, 15-11; Lin Dan bt Indra

Wijaya 17-14, 11-15, 15-9; Kenneth Jonassen bt Budi Santoso 15-7, 15-2;

Shon Seung-Mo bt Ewe Hock Ong 15-14, 15-4; Chen Yu bt Taufik Hidayat

12-15, 17-16, 15-5; NG Wei bt Saman Ismail 17-14, 17-16; Peter Gade

Christensen bt Lee Hyun-Il 17-14, 15-8; Xia Xuanze bt Marleve Mainaky

15-12, 8-15, 15-11.—AFP