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Baun, Taufik crash out of China Open

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Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia shakes hands with Simon Santoso.

Two-time All-England champion Tine Baun of Denmark bowed out of the China Open after losing to Chinese qualifier Yao Xue 14-21, 21-14, 11-21 in the women's singles second round on Thursday.

Despite her early exit, Baun tried to put a positive spin on her game.

"It's OK for me. It doesn't matter. I had my success last week," said the 32-year-old Dane, who made an impressive comeback last week in the Hong Kong Open where she reached the final following an injury lay-off.

"Coming off from injuries -- that's the most important thing."

Yao will encounter fellow Chinese Wang Xin in the quarterfinals. Wang, the third seed in the tournament, surged into last eight after thrashing Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 21-19, 21-10 in just 30 minutes.

Wang has already wrote her name down in the record books as the first female singles player to win three SuperSeries events in a row after her victories in October's Denmark Open, France Open and last week's Hong Kong Open.

Earlier in men's singles, former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia was also bundled out of the tournament, beaten 15-21, 10-21 by compatriot Simon Santoso, who set up a clash with fourth seeded Dane Peter Hoeg Gade.

"I'm happy because it's Simon (who beat me)... I'm not so sad," said the 30-year-old Taufik.

In mixed doubles, world championship runners-up Xu Chen/Ma Jin of China went down 14-21, 21-11, 16-21 to Malaysian duo Peng Soon Chan/Liu Ying Goh in 49 minutes.

"We were not well prepared," said Ma, murmuring with a low voice.

Off the court, the shuttlecock was a hot topic of the day. Several players including men's doubles first seeds Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, and men's singles top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia complained about the speed of the shuttle used at the tournament.

"The shuttles are indeed too slow to stroke. To be honest, I think the competition here has become a game of strength, not our shuttle craft or strategies," Cai said after their 19-21, 21-11, 21-15 victory against Yoshiteru Hirob/Kenta Kazuno of Japan.

However, tournament referee Isabelle Jobard claimed "no problem with the shuttles" as technical officials tested shuttles every day ahead of the very first session.

Jobard explained that the speed of shuttle could be affected by temperature and humidity, so they checked and recorded air conditions each hour everyday.

Editor: Zhang Xiang