BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) -- Hours after their opening matches were scheduled, top-ranked Lee Chong Wei and his nemesis Lin Dan began their latest All England Open badminton campaigns and wasted little time on Wednesday.
In a program which overran into Thursday, Chong Wei, almost three hours after his original start time, beat Wang Zhengming of China 21-16, 21-11 to maintain his unbeaten start to the year, improving to 14-0 in his quest for a third successive All England title.
"It was a good first match," he said. "I liked the feeling on the court. Hopefully, the second match will go better."
He next has a first-time meeting with Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, the Dane who produced a minor surprise when he ousted 11th-ranked Simon Santoso of Indonesia 21-14, 8-21, 21-7 with nine straight points in the third game.
Santoso was coming off the German Open final on Sunday, when he lost to Lin, while Vittinghus came to Birmingham having gone unbeaten in helping Denmark keep its European teams title, then pushing Lin in the German quarterfinals last week.
Lin, the four-time All England champ who lost to Lee in last year's final, took care of Ajay Jayaram of Indonesia 21-18, 21-15 in a match which finished after midnight before a smattering of fans. In round two, Lin will meet Malaysian qualifier Chong Wei Feng, then either 2008 champ Chen Jin or 2005 world champ Taufik Hidayat in the quarterfinals.
It took more than 16 hours of play and not until after 2 a.m. for the first seed to fall at National Indoor Arena, where No. 8 Peter Gade, the 1999 champ making his 17th and last All England appearance before retirement, bowed to the only Englishman in the draw, Rajiv Ouseph, 17-21, 21-16, 21-14.
Lin's protege, third-seeded Chen Long, advanced when Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia retired with an injured foot before their third game.
Leading Japanese players, No. 6-seeded Sho Sasaki and No. 7 Kenichi Tago, both eliminated dangerous Danes. Sasaki, at a career-best ranking of sixth, beat Jan O Jorgensen 21-18, 21-19, while Tago, the 2010 finalist, defeated European junior champion Viktor Axelsen 21-12, 24-22.
No. 8 Lee Hyun-il, who retired for two years after the Beijing Olympics, downed qualifier Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan 21-11, 21-13.
The 10th-ranked Du Pengyu of China lost to Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka 21-16, 15-21, 21-19, with the Indonesian reeling off the last four points as he smashed 14 winners in the deciding game. Rumbaka's other win over Du in the first round of the Japan Open last September are his only victories over a top-10 player in more than two years.
On the women's side, top-ranked Wang Yihan of China dispatched Pai Hsiao-ma of Taiwan 21-10, 21-8.
Wang will next run into teammate Liu Xin, whom she's never lost to, with a quarterfinal looming against old foe Tine Baun of Denmark. Wang beat Baun in the 2009 final, then lost to the Dane in the 2010 final. Both missed last year's tournament because of injuries.
Baun, a two-time All England champ, opened with a 21-15, 21-15 win over Mingtian Fu of Singapore without feeling a right hip injury.
"I didn't feel anything from my injury and that's a good start," Baun said.
The only women's seed defeated was No. 2 Wang Xin to Sung Ji-hyun 21-8, 21-13 at 2:30 a.m. Sung has always troubled Wang, who just edged the South Korean in the German Open quarters on Friday.
Also through were defending champ Wang Shixian of China, No. 4 Saina Nehwal of India, No. 6 Jiang Yanjiao, No. 7 Li Xuerui of China, the German Open winner last weekend, and beaten finalist Juliane Schenk of Germany.
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