Top-seeded Lee Hyung-taik and Li Na advance to singles semifinals

"I told myself I must hang in after losing the first set," she said. "Iroda came into the match three times in the second set, but her concentration was dropping."

A possible stumbling block for Li's passage to the final is fourth-seeded Sania Mirza of India, who outplayed Suchanun Viratprasert of Thailand 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Li's second-seeded compatriot, Zheng Jie also dropped the first set against sixth-seeded Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan, but won 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to take her place in the semifinals.

"These are my first Asian Games and I really wanted to be in the semifinals, but today's match was quite tough," Zheng said.

Chan forced Zheng to make mistakes in the first set by repeatedly hitting the ball deep.

"Zheng figured out my game in the second set and I began making too many mistakes," Chen said.

Zheng's semifinal will be against third-seeded Aiko Nakamura of Japan, who advanced to the semifinals when her fifth-seeded Thai opponent, Tamarine Tanasugarn, retired in the third set with an ankle sprain. Nakamura was leading 6-3, 3-6, 4-1.

Defending men's doubles champions Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi of India, the top-seeded pair, moved within two matches of clinching the gold medal again when they defeated Pakistan's Aisam Ul Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.