In a crazy third day in Birmingham, the Chinese players came on very strong, except for world number one and top seed Xia Xuanze who was beaten by an inspired Agus Hariyanto, former Indonesian now playing for Hong Kong.

Five match points each. This is what Xia Xuanze and Agus Hariyanto had to wait for until the match was finally over. And it went the wrong way for mainland China: Coming back from a two games lead, the 25-year-old Hariyanto pulled some incredible shots to stay in the game and trouble the 1999 All England Champion.

Xia had it all settled when he served at 6/2 in the fourth game, leading two games to one. Yet Hariyanto (pictured) is no man to let go until it''s over. With an efficient game - playing shuttles quite close to the lines on sharp fast drops or mid court attacks - Hariyanto came back little by little.

"Usually, when I have a match point against me, I try to attack and finish the point, which I tried to do through out the match," said Hariyanto. "But the main reason for my victory is probably because I had no pressure, I had nothing to lose - I came here to try to do better than last year where I had lost in the second round to Kenneth Jonassen."

No pressure until the fifth game, after Hariyanto came back to win the fourth 8/6, saving two match points. "I might have kept the outside calm, but inside, I was boiling!" He had every reason to - leading 6/3, he got a first match point, and Xia''s rush was called in by the judge. Yet Hariyanto''s fair play took over, he didn''t even say anything and kept on. Xia (pictured) played safe shots to come back up 6/6, and then 7/6. The suspense reached its peak when both men reached 7/7 in the last game, with serves changing back and forth.

On a fifth match point, Hariyanto took it away, signing himself and thinking "I did it ! I beat the number one seed!" The Indonesian born has been playing for Hong Kong for four years now, and he feels that it was a very good opportunity for him. "Now I know that it was a good choice for me to leave Indonesia for Hong Kong even though I didn''t know at the time. This is one of my biggest victories, along with my quarter finals in the World Championships."

Ahead of him, lies Budi Santoso. "I''ve never played against him in an official match, but he used to beat me when we practised together," said Hariyanto.

Xia''s loss will be quickly forgotten in China, as the rest of the Chinese armada marched on Birmingham: Lin Dan easily won his match against Rony Agustinus of Indonesia in the same half of the draw, while four Chinese players made a clean sweep in the bottom section.

The biggest upset came from Luo Yigang''s victory over Roslin Hashim, in four games. Luo had to go through the qualifying rounds in spite of his recent success in the National Chinese Games, and didn''t intend to go back home right away! In four solid games, he took over the Nusa Mashuri player.

Bao Chunlai, Chen Yu and Chen Hong all defeated their opponents to make this part of the draw an all Chinese quarter finals. The other unexpected guest at this stage, who will play Lin Dan, is Shon Seung Mo from Korea who beat Marleve Mainaky in four games as well.

Martin to start her Chinese Crusade

Camilla Martin probably would have enjoyed an easier second round, after her quick victory in Thursday morning''s match. But Xu Huaiwen did more than fight back: she put the Dane in trouble in the second game, but Martin still managed to win.

As usual, in Martin''s path lie all the top Chinese, even if Gong Zhichao, title holder, has retired and didn''t make the trip to Birmingham. First, Martin will have to play Zhang Ning, who she easily beat in Cagen few weeks ago, but that was a different story. The tall Chinese looked very sharp, leaving no chance to Julia Mann.

Two of the main contestants for victory are Dai Yun (pictured) and Zhou Mi. Both girls were also engaged in the women''s doubles event. And they created quite a shock by defeating Jane Bramsen and Ann Lou Jorgensen in the first round, saving a few match points before winning 8/7 in the deciding game.

Switching from a fancy skirt to their usual outfits as they switched from doubles to singles, Zhou and Dai cruised to the quarter final stage, defeating respectively Ling Wan Ting from Hong Kong and Kelly Morgan from Wales.

Zhou is to meet qualifier from Korea Kim Kyeung Ran, while Dai Yun will take on fourth seed Wang Chen.

Two other Chinese complete the draw, as Xie Xingfang, Asian Champion, and Gong Ruina, World Champion will meet in the top half making five Chinese left in the last eight.

Report and pictures by Raphael Sachetat