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)