China's Chen Qingchen (left) hits a shot next to China's Jia Yifan in their women's doubles badminton quarter final match against Japan's Yuki Fukushima and Japan's Sayaka Hirota during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo on July 29, 2021. (ALEXANDER NEMENOV / AFP)

TOKYO - China has secured a one-two finish in badminton mixed doubles after two Chinese pairs beat their respective opponents in the semifinals, while their compatriots Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan sailed into women's doubles semifinals here on Thursday.

Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan will compete against South Korea's No 5 Kim So-yeong/Kong Heeyong in the semifinals on Saturday

The all-China final in mixed doubles will feature Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong and Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping, the top two seeds at the Tokyo Olympics.

Playing against home favorites Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, Wang and Huang recovered from a close 23-21 loss in the first set to turn the tables around 21-15, 21-14 in the following two sets, before world No 1 Zheng/Huang beat Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet of China's Hong Kong 21-16, 21-12.

Zheng and Huang said that they had watched some parts of the earlier match between Wang/Huang and Yuta/Arisa. "So our match became crucial because if we take the game, we can seal one gold medal for China," Zheng said.

"Before the game started, our coach helped boost our courage and confidence and we hoped we can win this without a hitch," Zheng added.

Speaking of the unexpected exit of Japan's world No1 shuttler Kento Momota, Huang said it served as a wake-up call for them. "As the tournament moves on, we should be better prepared for all kinds of difficulties and battle hard against each pair of opponents," she noted.

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In women's doubles quarterfinals, China's world No 3 Chen/Jia came back from a 21-18 loss and defeated Japan's top seeds Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota 21-10, 21-10.

Jia said that in the opener, they were a bit nervous and not fully motivated, so the opponents were off to a better start. "But after losing the first set, we told ourselves that we would have to leave the Olympic stage if we missed one more game," she said.

"To go all out no matter what and to keep cool-headed -- this is my motto," Jia added. "We have tried our best, and if we still lost anyway, I would accept the result," Chen echoed.

Chen and Jia will compete against South Korea's No 5 Kim So-yeong/Kong Heeyong in the semifinals on Saturday.

However, their compatriots Du Yue and Li Yinhui failed to reach the women's doubles semifinals after being defeated by Indonesia's Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu.

Seeded seventh in the tournament, Greysia/Apriyani won the match 21-15, 20-22, 21-17.

Elsewhere, men's singles reigning Olympic champion Chen Long routed Malaysia's rising star Lee Zii Jia 8-21, 21-19, 21-5 to pass through to quarterfinals. His teammate and 11th seed Shi Yuqi thrashed Indonesia's top player Jonatan Christie 21-11 21-9, also reaching to the last eight.