Published: 09:40, November 24, 2023 | Updated: 10:23, November 24, 2023
An, Ginting knocked out of badminton China Masters
By Xinhua

An Se-young of South Korea hits a return against Chen Yufei of China during the badminton women's team final at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Oct 1, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

SHENZHEN, China - Women's singles world number one An Se-young of South Korea and men's singles second seed Ginting Anthony Sinisuka of Indonesia faltered in the second round of the 2023 BWF China Masters here on Thursday.

World champion An experienced a straight-set loss to China's Wang Zhiyi 21-12, 21-16, saying that she hasn't fully recovered from injury. "I hope to return to the court as soon as possible, so I am here. But unfortunately, I can't play very well now."

"I think the injury did influence her performance. It was not the best An. But still, she is a very tough player and I need to learn from her," commented Wang.

China's Chen Yufei, seeded third, also advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Goh Jin Wei of Malaysia 21-9, 21-16.

ALSO READ: Badminton: Chen into last 16, Marin ousted at China Masters

In men's singles action, Ginting was defeated by unseeded Lin Chun-yi of Chinese Taipei 21-18, 21-17. Lin is set to face Chinese shuttler Zhao Junpeng, who eased past Denmark's Rasmus Gemke 21-13, 21-14.

In this file photo dated May 9, 2022, Wang Zhiyi of China competes in the singles match against Ania Setien of Spain during a group B match at the Uber Cup badminton tournament in Bangkok, Thailand. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Japan's third seed Kodai Naraoka endured a grueling 110-minute match to prevail over Denmark's Anders Antonsen 21-19, 12-21, 21-19, while seventh-seeded Shi Yuqi of China was upset by France's Christo Popov 21-15, 21-19.

"It was a tough game. I tried my best, so I finally won. I am really happy now. But I know it's not the end. I still need to focus on the upcoming match," said Popov.

The men's doubles competition saw the top two seeds advance to the last eight, as India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, alongside China's Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang, overcame their opponents respectively.

READ MORE: China takes two golds at Malaysia Masters

Mixed doubles top seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong and women's doubles world number one Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan, both from China, secured straight-set wins to advance.