Olympic bronze medallists Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager of Denmark took the mixed double title at the 250,000 US dollars China Open badminton championships Saturday in Guangzhou.

The third-seeded Danes overthrew Chinese Chen Qiqiu and Zhao Tingting in full sets 15-13, 13-15, and 15-8 in a marathon battle which lasted one hour and forty-two minutes.

Chen and Zhao, Demark Open winners in October, were the third-time finallists in the International Badminton Federation's six-star tournament, but never won the title.

"I was a bit disappointed that I never won the tournament at my home town," said Chen, who was born in the southern province in 1978.

"I don't know why but I was short of strength in the third set, "And I think it's the turning point that we lost the first set," Chen said.

The Chinese duet started well and led the first set 11-6 only to surrender to their tenacious opponents 15-13. They won back in the second but lost soon 15-8 in the decisive third.

"We beat them here last year and they revenge the defeat," Zhao said, "They did better tonight."

Two Indonesian pairs Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir and Anggun Nugroho/Tetty took the bronze medals.

Chinese Olympic champions Zhang Jun/Gao Ling were ousted in the quarterfinals by Indonesian Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir.

They were the previous two-time champions here in a row, beating teammates Chen and Zhao.