SHENZHEN, South China, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Olympic and world champion Ma Long and world No. 1 Fan Zhendong will have an early meeting in the quarterfinals after beating their rivals respectively in the China Open on Friday.
Fan crushed Slovakia's Lubomir Pistej 4-1 while his more heralded fellow Chinese whitewashed Japanese Koki Niwa 4-0.
"Ma Long has set an example of excellence," said Fan. "I hope I will be good enough to challenge him tomorrow."
Chinese Lin Gaoyuan survived a seven-set game against German star Dimitrij Ovtcharov. He will take on teammate Liang Jingkun, a 4-2 winner over Brazilian Hugo Calderano.
German veteran Timo Boll advanced into the quarter-finals after defeating Chinese youngster Yu Ziyang 4-3.
Boll's next opponent is Chinese Xu Xin, who routed Japanese Jun Mizutani 4-0.
Boll also reached the men's doubles final with Patrick Franziska, with their rivals being Ma Long and Wang Chuqin.
China has secured a gold medal after Wang Manyu/Zhu Yuling, and Gu Yuting/Liu Shiwen romped into the women's doubles final.
Olympic champion Ding Ning led six Chinese into the women's singles quarter-finals, with the remaining two berths split by Japan and Chinese Taipei.
Ding will play against Japanese Mima Ito after nipping another Japanese Miu Hirano 4-0.
Chinese Taipei's Cheng I-Ching booked a last-eight spot following a 4-2 victory over Romania's Bernadette Szocs.
The other Chinese in the quarter-finals are Liu Shiwen, Wang Manyu, Chen Meng, Chen Xingtong and Zhu Yuling.
China won't be able to have a clean sweep of gold medals in Shenzhen after the country's only remaining mixed doubles duo were beaten in the quarterfinals early in the day.
Chinese Taipei's Lin Yun-Ju and Cheng I-Ching ousted Xu Xin and Chen Meng en route to the championship final against Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong, China.
