BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - World number one Lee Chong Wei and titleholder Lin Dan both eased into the second round of the All England badminton championships on Wednesday.
Malaysia's Chong Wei, top seeded after winning the first two Super Series tournaments this year, needed just 26 minutes to beat first round opponent Chetan Anand of India 21-15 21-16.
The victory set up a clash on Thursday with unseeded Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro.
World and Olympic champion Lin, chasing his fifth All England crown in seven years, overcame Danish qualifier Christian Lind Thomsen 21-16 21-15.
The Chinese left-hander is making a belated seasonal debut with a busy year ahead. He now meets 2003 All England winner Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia.
Ex-Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, the fourth seed, shrugged off an early scare. The Indonesian dropped the first game before edging out Hong Kong's Hu Yun 17-21 21-11 21-12.
There was a surprise in the men's doubles where 2007 champions and top seeds Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong of Malaysia lost to the 2003 world champions Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark 21-13 21-11.
In the women's singles, second seed and 2007 world championship runner-up Wang Lin of China suffered a 10-21 21-16 21-18 defeat at the hands of unseeded Japanese Eriko Hirose.
The All Englands, sometimes dubbed the Wimbledon of badminton, are celebrating their 100th staging this year.
(Editing by Justin Palmer)
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