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ollowing Taufik Hidayat’s shock second-round defeat in the men’s singles on Thursday, mixed-doubles pair Liliyana Natsir and Ahmad Tantowi have kept Indonesia’s hopes of victory at the Singapore Open badminton championships alive by progressing to the semifinals on Saturday.

In their quarterfinal match on Friday, fourth seeds Liliyana and Tantowi outclassed unseeded pair Lee Yong-dae and Ha Jung-eun of South Korea, 21-14, 21-16.

Liliyana and Tantowi will next face top seeds Nan Zhang and Yunlei Zhao of China, who ousted compatriots Hanbin He and Yang Yu, 21-18, 21-16, to book their semifinal spot.

Separately, Hung Ling Chen and Wen Hsing Cheng of Chinese Taipei beat Japanese duo Shoji Sato and Shizuka Matsuo, 10-21, 21-14, 21-17, and Thais Sudket Parapakamol-Saralee Thoungthongkam, 21-15, 21-14, respectively.

Their semifinal opponents are Britons Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork.

In the men’s doubles, Indonesia is still represented by Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Aprida Gunawan, who defeated Japan’s Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Noriyasu Hiarat, 21-17, 21-18, in the quarterfinals.

Alvent said he was grateful to have gotten through the match, which was fraught with windy conditions.

“Wind can be a very influential factor,” said Alvent as quoted by the Indonesian Badminton Association’s (PBSI) official website, www.pb-pbsi.org, adding that he and Hendra had played smart to counter the Japanese pair’s physical fitness.

In the semifinals, Alvent and Hendra will play seventh seeds Biao Chai and Zhendong Guo of China, who beat Ingo Kindervater and Johannes Schoettler of Germany 21-15, 21-10, in the quarterfinals.

In their last meeting with the pair, at the Thailand Grand Prix last week, Alvent-Hendra triumphed 21-17, 21-18.

In the women’s doubles, Indonesians Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii, third seeds here, lost to sixth seeds Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung of South Korea, 21-10, 21-23, 21-14.

The South Koreans will next face second seeds Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiikawa of Japan, who saw off Russian eighth seeds Valeri Sorokina and Nina Vislova.

In the men’s singles, Indonesia’s Simon Santoso lost to powerful top seed Lin Dan of China, 21-14, 21-13, 22-20. On Saturday, Lin will meet fourth seed Peter Hoeg Gade of Germany, who reached the semi-finals with a 21-15, 21-15 victory over Pengyu Du of China.

On the other side of the draw, Zhengming Wang of China will face counterpart Jin Chen, after he defeated Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, 21-15, 21-10, and Lee Hyun-il of South Korea 21-14, 21-9, respectively.

In the women’s singles, top-seed Shixian Wang of China will face sixth seed Tine Baun of Denmark, and China’s Xin Wang will meet Jie Yao of the Netherlands.