When his aggressive game let him down, Danai slowed down his pace, employing a range of shots from his repertoire to break the momentum of his opponent and turn the situation around.

"I had some problems in the first set because I was desperate and went for it too much. But when I changed and mixed up the balls, it worked,'' said the fifth-seeded Danai, who plays top seed Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea, a 6-0 6-3 winner over Im Kyu-tae.

"Lee is very confident right now after his recent wins over some good players like [Ivan] Ljubicic and [Tommy] Robredo. He won here five times in six years. So it will be very tough on Friday,'' said Danai.

In Shanghai, Tamarine Tanasugarn reached the quarter-finals of the US$50,000 Chinese Women's Circuit after Lei Huang of China retired with injury at 6-2 1-0 in their second round match yesterday.

The second-seeded Thai today plays the winner of the match between Russian sixth-seeded Alla Kudryavtseva and Chinese Xu Yi-yang. Compatriot Nudnida Luangnam went down to eighth-seeded Sandra Zahlavova of the Czech Republic 7-6 6-3.