Badminton: Xie survives heart-pounding match to progress at Thai Grand Prix

(BEIJING, June 25) -- World No.1 Xie Xingfang survived a heart-pounding three-game match in the opening round of women's singles competition at the SCG Thailand Grand Prix Gold 2008 on June 25.

Xie, girlfriend of World men's No. 1 Lin Dan, defeated her unseeded rival, Julia Pei Xian Wong of Malaysia, in surprisingly tight match, in which all three games were closely contested.

The opening game went to Xie, 21-17. However, her Malaysian opponent bounced back to clinch the second game, 21-19 to even the contest.

The third and final game was a back-and-forth affair, with the two shuttlers trading the lead several times. Each of them sensed victory when they were tied at 19-19, but Xie's experience and skill finally prevailed as she won the final two points for a 21-19 win.

The remaining three women's seeds all progressed to the second round although third-seed Chen Wang of Hong Kong had to come from a game down to defeat Malaysia's Anita Raj Kaur, 16-21, 21-13, 21-18.

Xie will take on Indonesian Yuswandari Aprillia on Thursday, June 26 to compete for a spot in the quarterfinals.