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Lin Dan advances to second round in All England Open

Xinhua, March 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Five-time champion Lin Dan beat Wei Nan 21-14, 12-21, 21-16 to reach the last 16 of the All England Open here on Wednesday.

Playing his first match at the All England Open in three years, the Chinese super star looked on track to a comfortable victory after the first game before dropping the second, raising concerns over his recurring knee injuries.

The twice Olympic champion struggled in the third but managed to hold off the challenge from Wei, a player from Hong Kong, China and having lost all three previous meetings.

Lin will next take on teammate Tian Houwei, who beat Ajay Jayaram of India in the other match.

Lin said: "I still feel rusty after playing irregularly on the world circuit since the London 2012 Olympics, as all the top players are here so I seem a little bit out of form.

"I didn't play very well in the second game, but you know this is All England Open and all the top players in the world are here, it is very natural to hit your top form in the first round."

World No. 1 Chen Long, last year's runner-up, fought back from one set down to oust fellow Chinese Xue Song 12-21, 21-18, 21-9. Chen, the 2013 world champion, next takes on Hsu Jen Hao of Chinese Taipei.

"I started really slow and I wasn't in the best of form out there," said Chen. "I needed to play quick and attack more, play rally-to-rally and not think about the result."

Women's Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China eased past Zhang Beiwen of the United States 21-13, 21-17. Carolina Marin, the surprise current world champion from Spain defeated Ireland's Chloe Magee 21-14, 15-21, 21-11. Endi