Gopichand in quarters

All England badminton champion Pulella Gopichand stormed into the quarter-finals in the Denmark Open 2001, being played at Farum Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Denmark Open is a prestigious 6-star tournament, which, with prize-money of US $250,000, is the most lucrative World Grand Prix event alongside the Korea Open.

Gopichand, who is seeded seventh in the tournament, defeated the ninth seed Lee Tsuen Seng of the Malaysia 7-3, 7-5, 2-7, 7-5 in his third round match.

The Indian ace, had earlier defeated Andrew Smith of England 7-2, 7-4, 7-1 in his first round match on Tuesday and Dicky Palyama of the Netherlands in second round on Wednesday.

In the quarter-finals, he will face Bao Chunlai of China, on Friday. Chunlai defeated Agus Hariyanto of Hong Kong 5-7, 5-7, 7-5, 7-1, 7-0 in his third round match.

In the biggest upset of the tournament, Sairul Amar Ayob of Malaysia defeated the top seed Chen Hong of China 7-1, 8-6, 2-7, 8-6 to set up a quarter-final clash with his fellow-countryman Wong Choong Hann. Hann defeated Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark 7-2, 5-7, 7-4, 7-0 in his third round match.

Johan Hadikusuma of Indonesia will face Chen Yu of China and Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia will face Lin Dan of China in the other two quarter-final matches from the lower half of the draw.

Hadikusuma got the better of Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia 7-4, 1-7, 7-1, 7-5; Chen Yu beat Malaysia's number one shuttler Roslin Hashim 7-4, 7-3, 7-0; Dan defeated Ramesh Nathen of Malaysia 7-1, 7-5, 6-8, 7-0 while Hock downed Richard Vaughan of Wales 7-4, 7-4, 7-1 in the third round matches.