It was Spain's unseeded Carolina Marin who really had the crowd on their feet after a spectacular win over fifth seed Sung Ji-hyun from Korea in the women's singles third round on Thursday. The 20-year-old survived three match points in a tough 75-minute battle. Marin will face All-England finalist Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand to secure a place in Saturday's semi-finals.

Carolina Marin became the first Spanish player to enter the quarter-finals of a World Championships.

Jørgensen's chance to win a medal still alive

Jan Ø. Jørgensen of Denmark knocked out fourth-seeded Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand. After a nervous start (10-21), the Dane got the control of the game and secured his fourth victory over the Thai veteran player. To win his first ever medal at this kind of event, the 25-year old from Aalborg has to beat Tien Minh Nguyen from Vietnam. The latter beat Spaniard Pablo Abian in three games.

European Champion Marc Zwiebler's ambition in Guangzhou came to an end in the last 16 stage when Tommy Sugiarto overcame the German in two straight games 21-19, 21-14.

Current European Champions in the mixed doubles, Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba are through to the last 8 after they beat Russian pair of Vitalij Durkin and Nina Vislova 21-18, 21-15. Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen were only millimetres away from a spot in the quarter-finals. The Danes could not use a match point in the second game against Koreans Baek Choel Shin/Hye Won Eom and bowed out 17-21, 23-21, 21-18.

Boe and Mogensen showed no mercy

But Pedersen's chances to leave Southern China with a medal in her bag are still alive as she moved into the last 16 stage of the women's doubles with her partner Kamilla Rytter-Juhl.

Olympic Silver medalists Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen showed no mercy in today's men's doubles against 9th seeded Chinese duo of Biao Chai and Nan Zhang. The Danes, who looked extremely focused, took the victory in just 27 minutes of play (21-15, 21-18).

Click here for all results of day 4.

The quarter-final stage from a European perspective:

Jan Ø. Jørgensen (DEN) - Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE)
Carolina Marin (ESP) - Ratchanok Intanon (THA)
Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (DEN) - Pratama/Saputra (INA)
Kamilla Rytter-Juhl/Christinna Pedersen (DEN) - Bao/Zhong (CHN)
Robert Mateusiak/Nadiezda Zieba (POL) - Xu/Ma (CHN)

Tune in on BWF's YouTube channel to follow the matches.

_________

Follow Badminton Europe on Twitter
Join Badminton Europe on facebook
Subscribe to Badminton Europe's YouTube Channel

Photo by BadmintonPhoto (LIVE from Guangzhou)