Third-seeded Bao Chunlai won a hard-fought all-Chinese clash against Chen Yu to book his quarterfinal berth at the All England badminton championships on Thursday.

Chinse badminton player Bao Chunlai returns a shot against Chen Yu during their men's singles match of the All-England Open badminton championships in Birmingham, Britain on March 6, 2008. Bao won by 2-1.

Bao survived a deciding game scare, struggling from 15-9 down to wrap up a 21-11, 10-21, 21-18 win.

"I relaxed a bit after the first game and that gave him(Chen) the chance," said Bao.

"It's a tough game. He knows me well and it's always tough to beat somebody who knows you well. But it's good to win."

Chinse badminton player Bao Chunlai returns a shot against Chen Yu during their men's singles match of the All-England Open badminton championships in Birmingham, Britain on March 6, 2008.

Bao also said he was affected by the previous night's clash in which he beat Malaysia's Muhammad Hafiz Hashim 21-19, 21-11.

"I think I was still recovering from yesterday's match against Hashim," he said.

Bao opened up an 8-0 lead in a quick-settled first game but it was Chen who then slipped into domination, scoring seven points without reply before tying the overall score at 1-1.

Bao will face Yu Li of China or Joachim Persson of Denmark in the next round.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2008)