Top seed Xu Xin will meet teammate Yan An in an all-Chinese quarterfinal at the men's table tennis World Cup to be held Saturday night.

Xu fought back from 1-3 down to beat Tang Peng of Hong Kong, China 4-3 to qualify from Group 1 while Yan, ranked eighth in the world, advanced from Group 3 with a win over Chen Chien-An of Chinese Taipei 4-1.

The 20-year-old Yan, who lost to Olympic bronze medalist Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany in the first round, qualified as the second finisher in the group while Ovtcharov maintained unbeatable.

Xu, ranked second in the world, slumped to 1-3 after taking the first game 11-6, losing 11-13, 8-11, 8-11, but the only penholder in the tournament won the next two 11-4,11-7 to make it 3-3.

Tang, 31, a former member of the Chinese national team, went ahead 5-1 in the decider but fell at the crucial moment 6-11.

"I know that taking two games is enough to take me to the last eight," Xu said. "But you need to win every match en route to take the title."

Xu, a semifinalist last year, crushed Germany's Patrick Baum 4-1 in the first match. A 4-2 defeat to Tang should have also taken him to the knockout stage.

In the other matches, Timo Boll of Germay beat Marcos Freitas of Portugal 14-12, 17-15, 11-5, 13-11, Ovtcharov defeated Chen Chien-An 11-6, 11-8, 11-4, 11-9 and Chuang Chih-Yuan, also of Chinese Taipei, labored to beat South Korea's Jung Youngsik 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4.

Boll, Ovtcharov and Chen all qualified for the last eight as group leaders alongside Xu.

Tang, Yan and Freitas and former World Cup champion Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus qualified by finishing second in their groups.

Ovtcharov will next take on Tang Peng, Chuang meet Samsonov and Boll face Freitas.