However, the Kingdom's big hope, Boonsak Ponsana, crashed out in the men's singles quarter-finals.

Sudket and Saralee, bronze medallists in the world championships, routed Denmark's Jens Eriksen and Lena Frier Kristiansen 21-14 21-13.  The world No-4 pair will next face Indonesian giant-killers Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa, who beat the 2006 world championships runners-up, Anthony Clark and Donna Kellog of England, in the second round and also Chinese world No 4 Zhang Jun and Gao Ling in the quarter-finals.

It will be their first meeting, as the experienced Indonesian players have paired up for the first time.

Saralee, however, failed to get going in the women's doubles, teaming up with Sathinee Chankrachangwong to fall to Chinese arch-rivals and world No-5 Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen 21-18 21-19 in the quarter-finals.

World No-10 Boonsak failed to defeat his bugbear and Malaysian world No-2 Lee Chong Wei, losing for the fourth time in a row, 21-18 21-14.

The Thai had lost to Lee in the Asian Championships, the Malaysia Open and the Taiwan Open.

Meanwhile, European champion Peter Gade yesterday beat China's Chen Hong . The third-seeded Dane,  scored a narrow 21-14 21-17 victory.

In the semi-final today, Gade will take on world champion Lin Dan of China, who beat Malaysia's Muhammad Hafiz Hashim 21-19 21-14. In the women's competition, China's Olympic gold medallist Zhang Ning and world champion Xie Xingfang stayed on course.

Zhang fended off team-mate Jiang Yanjiao 21-16 16-21 21-18 and will meet Zhu Lin in the semi-finals.

Xie defeated Japan's Kaori Mori 19-21 21-7 21-14. She will take on Asian champion Wang Chen of Hong Kong, the only non-Chinese semi-finalist, who beat Lu Lan 21-13 18-21 21-11.