Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, a member of Denmark's glorious Thomas Cup winning side, will be the only European player in the last eight after he saw off England's Rajiv Ouseph 21-19, 20-22, 21-16 today.
Next up for Vittinghus is a meeting with unseed Sho Sasaki, who swatted aside the challenge of Indonesia's Iskandar Zainuddin with a 21-12, 21-16 victory.
„I won a real close battle against Rajiv Ouseph. As always it was an extremely tough competitor for me. I blew a 20-16 lead in the second, which I'm obviously a little annoyed about - but I'm also very happy I managed to stay focused for the third game“, the Dane wrote via Facebook.
„I will play my first quarter-finals here in Australia and I will do my best to make it one step further!“
Hongkong star Hu Yun defeated Spanish number one shuttler Pablo Abian 21-18, 16-21, 21-13 to set up a quarterfinal with Korea's Hyeok Jin Jeon, while French star was knocked out by Iskandar Zainuddin 21-12, 21-14 in the opening round of the 750.000 US Dollars Superseries tournament.
The Adcocks bowed out in the last 16 stage
In the last major tournament before the summer Games, the Adcocks were beaten 21-16, 21-18 by China's Siwei Zheng and Qingchen Chen.
The world number seven pair were up against it in the first when the Chinese produced two mini bursts to take a 13-4 lead.
In the second, the English number one pairing led 8-5 and 13-11 before the Chinese duo inched ahead from 16-all.
Viktor Axelsen and Carolina Marin withdrawn
European Champion Viktor Axelsen has withdrawn from the Australian Open due to sickness, making the announcement Saturday on his Facebook page.
„Since pulling out in the first round on Wednesday, I'm still dealing with a bad cough and headache. I have been dealing with sickness since leaving Denmark about 11-12 ago and after not getting much better the last few days, I have decided to return to Denmark and get this under control. This also means that I will not be playing next week in Sydney, which I'm really disappointed about. Australian Open is a great event and I'd been looking forward to come back. Anyway I have to take care of my body and I don't want to take any chances so close to The Olympics“, Axelsen said.
Also World Champion and title holder Carolina Marin has pulled out of Australian Open tournament in Sydney because of a small injury issue.
„I will not play Australian Open because I've had some pain during Indonesia Open and we decided to go back and recover in Madrid and to be ready for the most important tournament: the Olympic Games!“, she told her fans via Instagram.
Article by Manuel Rösler. Photos (LIVE) by BadmintonPhoto.