In the quarterfinals on Friday we jumped right intothe excitement with a starstruck mixed double in the first match.

On one side of thecourt was the current Olympic and World Champions Indonesian LiliyanaNatsir/Tontowi Ahmad, on the other was no. 5 seed Chinese Li Yunlei/Zhang Nan.These two pairs have met each other one time before but with that being saidZhang Nan have met the Indonesians with his former partner Zhao Yunlei 19 timesbefore.

- We have met eachother before so we were well prepared for this match, said Liliyana Natsir.

The audience was in fora treat as these two pairs are number 4 and 6 in the world. Quickly theIndonesians showed what they were made of and got a good lead with the score4-0. Ahmad showed off his great offensive skills and the Chinese had a hardtime returning his smashes. 

You mightalso like: Sayaka Sato: Finally I won

In between some goodrallies were a lot of mistakes from both sides of the court in the beginning,so the pairs kept taking turns winning points. But already after 7 minutes theIndonesians led at interval 11-7.

After the interval theIndonesians came out working great offensive and defensive play but the Chinesewouldn’t have it. In the middle of first set both pairs stepped up and showedmagnificent mixed doubles playing with shots to the middle court and counterattacks. Despite this the Indonesians took of and won the first game after 14minutes with 21-10.

In the second set theIndonesians continue their playing style and the Chinese are once again behindin the beginning of the second game. The second game had more impressiverallies and both pairs showed why they are in the top ten in the world.

But even though theChinese showed moments of greatness and fought back with excellent defensiveplay, the Indonesians were simply too well-playing and they made it difficultfor the Zhang/Li to show their best mixed double form.

You mightalso like: Preview: Ready for the quarter-finals

Once again theIndonesians led all the way and at interval in the second game the score was11-8. After the interval the Indonesians kept their comfortable lead up untilthe ending of the game. As the score said 18-14, Ahmad/Natsir became a bitdefensive and the Chinese took a couple of good points.

After all theIndonesians closes the match after 37 minutes with the score 21-16. This was acomfortable win for the Indonesians and it never really looked close for theChinese pair.

- We were more focusedthis time than the last time and we took one point at a time and that made thewin, said Tontowi Ahmad after the victory.

The Indonesians nowadvance to the semifinals on Saturday and will face either French RonanLabar/Audrey Fontaine or Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet from Hong Kong.

Click here tosee the results of today’s matches