China ruffle feathers on court — Ji leads the charge

Guoliang, Waldner in semis
In table tennis, Chinese world champion Liu Guoliang powered past unseeded German veteran Joerg Rosskopf in men’s quarterfinals, while Chinese women reigned supreme in the semifinals of their singles.

Taiwan’s Chen Jing won her first game against Mainlander Wang Nan, but then went down 12-21, 22-20, 21-17, 21-15. It was a similar story for Singapore’s Jing Jun Hong: her challenge to Li Ju of China fell short 15-21, 21-13, 21-12, 21-19.

In the men’s singles, Atlanta gold medallist Liu Guoliang made short work of left-hander Rosskopf, who has a couple of Olympic medals under his belt but at 31 is at the sunset of his career. The German went down in straight games 21-11, 21-14, 21-7 . Waldner, the 1992 Olympic winner, made a faltering start in his quarters match, but clawed back victory from Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus 20-22, 18-21, 21-14, 21-18, 21-19. Persson managed his first win to date against China’s Liu Guozheng 14-21, 21-18, 21-16, 21-19.

Norman crashes out
The carnage in the men’s tennis tournament claimed another victim when Swedish third seed Magnus Norman was sent packing by fired-up Frenchman Arnaud Di Pasquale. Di Pasquale, beat the Swedish third seed 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2) to reach the quarterfinals. Norman’s exit means 11 of the 16 men’s seeds have now been eliminated from the tournament. Norman’s exit further enhanced Gustavo Kuerten’s status as the favourite to claim the gold medal.

The Brazilian played his best match so far to cruise into the quarters at the expense of Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic.

Venus and Serena Williams also enjoyed themselves in the Sydney sunshine, reaching the doubles quarter-finals after dropping the first set against Russian pair Elena Likhovtseva and Anastasia Myskina.

But it was third time unlucky for Spain’s Conchita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who were eliminated by Belarus’s Natasha Zverva and Olga Barabanshchikova.