Lin Dan to face Lee Chong Wei at All England Open

China's Lin Dan competes during the second round of the All England Open badminton championships in Birmingham on March 15, 2018. [Photo: VCG]

Six-time winner Lin Dan of China will take on four-time titlist Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia in their 40th encounter in the quarterfinals of the All England Open badminton championships on Friday.

Lin, 34, also a twice Olympic champion, defeated Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei 21-13, 23-21 while the 35-year-old Lee, a three-time Olympic silver medalist, fought back from one game down to beat South Korea's Lee Dong Keun 6-21, 21-13, 21-8.

Lin, nicknamed Super Dan by his fans, has won 27 of his memorable clashes with Lee, including two last year at the Malaysia Open and Asian Championships.

Lee's last victory over the Chinese super star happened at the semifinals of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Both players are looking forward to the mouth-watering match on Friday.

"I hope we will present a thrilling match tomorrow, " Lin said. "We know a lot of fans will come to watch us. We both want to win the game and hopefully I can play my best."

Lee, the defending champion, said, "I hope everybody will enjoy the match tomorrow. I did not face Lin Dan last year here so I hope we can play a great match."

Lin was beaten by teammate Shi Yuqi in the semifinals last year while Lee won his fourth title with an easy victory over Shi in the final.

Olympic champion Chen Long, who lifted the trophy here in 2013 and 2015, advanced to the last eight with a 21-18, 21-14 victory over Thailand's Khosit Phetpradab. The fourth seed will next meet last year's runner-up Shi Yuqi, who beat South Korea's Lee Hyun Il 21-11, 21-19.

Huang Yuxiang captured the fourth berth for China in the men's singles quarterfinal by upsetting third seed Kidambi Srikanth of India 21-11, 15-21, 22-20.

Chen Yufei, the only Chinese survivor in the women's singles first round, beat South Korea's Kim Hyo Min 21-15, 21-14 to reach the quarterfinals. The eighth seed will next play Mia Bblichfeldt of Denmark.

Spain's Carolina Marin, the Olympic champion, took one step further to repeating her 2015 title with a 21-13, 21-17 victory over Japan's Saena Kawakami.

Kawakami fought hard in the second-round match with the European champion but never managed to get ahead, with Marin pleased with her performance.

"I feel really happy because my performance today was really good," she said. "I'm also happy with how I'm playing and how I managed the game."