Taufik Hidayat's hopes of retaining his world badminton championship title evaporated on Thursday when he slumped to first ever defeat to China's Chen Hong in a tense third-round contest.

Hidayat, who is also the Olympic [ Images ] champion, took the first game comfortably but then succumbed to Chen's patient pressure tactics, allowing the world number seven to notch up his maiden win over the Indonesian, 14-21 21-18 21-19.

Chen, who won the All-England Open last year, was delighted with his comeback win but Hidayat hurried past reporters and headed out of the Palacio de Deportes.

"In the first game I had problems with the draft at my end of the court and I was cautious, maybe too cautious," said Chen.

"But I played more intelligently after that. Even though I lost all our previous meetings I wasn't affected by that record. I was under no pressure and I think Taufik was."

Hidayat was unseeded in Madrid after an inconsistent season affected by injury and marred by controversy after he stormed out of the recent Hong Kong Open in a dispute over a changed line call.

There was smooth progress for world number one Lee Chong Wei [ Images ] of Malaysia, second seeded Chinese Lin Dan [ Images ] and Danish world number four Peter Gade [ Images ].

Lin was in impressive form as he rattled off a 21-16 21-12 win over Park Sung-hwan of South Korea to set up a quarter-final clash against Malaysia's Muhamad Hafiz Hashim who fought back from a game down to beat Dicky Palyama [ Images ] of the Netherlands.

Top seed Lee used his superior court craft to defeat Dane Joachim Persson 21-16 21-12.

Lee, who is looking to add a first world title to the Commonwealth gold he won earlier in the year, pulled away at 16-all in the first game and stepped up a gear in the second to claim victory.

TOP FORM

"I did my homework on him," he said. "I knew he was powerful and fast at the net, so I slowed the game down and played to my strengths.

"I'm still not playing that well, maybe at about 70 percent, but I hope I will be on top form for my next match."

Lee will meet Chinese world number eight Bao Chunlai [ Images ] who took a 21-14 21-19 victory over Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro in Friday's quarter-finals.

Danish number one Gade will face Chen after notching up an authoritative 21-14 21-13 win over Japan's [ Images ] Shoji Sato.

"I would have bought that result before the match," said Gade. "He's a very fast player but he took a lot of chances and I controlled the wind well today.

"I felt good, I was ready and I made the right decisions."

In the women's singles, world champion Xie Xingfang of China, seeded joint third in Madrid, overwhelmed Tine Rasmussen 21-14 21-6 and will meet France's [ Images ] Pi Hongyang in the last eight.

World number one Zhang Ning, the 2003 champion, saw off Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia 21-13 21-13 and will now meet England's [ Images ] Tracey Hallam.

The Commonwealth Games [ Images ] gold medallist, Hallam continued her impressive progress at the tournament with a whirlwind 21-12 21-7 victory over Thai Monthila Meemek.

There was victory, too, for Germany's [ Images ] remaining representatives.

Second seed Xu Huaiwen beat Japan's Eriko Hirose 21-19 21-16 and Petra Overzier scored an upset victory over world number four Wang Chen of Hong Kong with a gritty 22-20 4-21 22-20 win.