Malaysian world number one Lee Chong Wei on Friday brushed aside Jan Jorgensen of Denmark 21-8, 21-17 to reach the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open badminton Superseries tournament. The 31-year-old two-time Olympic silver medallist had little trouble in disposing of the sixth seed in a 34-minute match, at one stage winning nine consecutive points in a one-sided first game.
Lee, who skipped last week's Victor China Open because of injury, will next play Ponsana Boonsak of Thailand, who put out Denmark's Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, also in straight games.
Indonesian pair Sony Dwi Kuncoro and fifth seed Tommy Sugiarto will face off in the other semi-final on Saturday, in a tournament no longer featuring any Chinese players in the men's singles or men's doubles.
Men's second seed Chen Long earlier this week pulled out of the event, giving his opponent a first-round walkover while fourth seed Du Pingyu lost to Englishman Rajiv Ouseph in his opener.
In the women's singles, China's misery deepened as defending champion and top-seed Li Xuerui was shocked 21-15, 21-19 by Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand after Li had held a lead in both games.
But China does have two other players in the semi-finals after third seed Wang Yihan and fourth seed Wang Shixian both won in straight games.
In the men's doubles, Indonesia's top-seeded men's pair Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan narrowly defeated Russians Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov 21-15, 14-21, 22-20. China's seventh-seeded pair Chai Biao and Hong Wei bowed out to Kim Ki-Jung and Kim Sa-Rang of South Korea.