It would be the first time since 1988, when table tennis debuted at the Olympics, that Chinese women have won all three singles medals, though the gold has always belonged to them.
The one non-Chinese player to make it to the semis, Beijing-born Li Jia Wei of Singapore, faces world number one Zhang Yining, who has dropped only two games all Olympics.
The other match will pit Wang Nan, the "big sister" of Chinese table tennis in her third Olympics, against the feisty Guo Yue, 20, playing her first Games.
"I'm certainly satisfied," China coach Shi Zhihao said. "I do think that if the Chinese team plays up to its normal strength, it should be like that."
Zhang Yining had the biggest scare of the Chinese women in the quarter-finals, running into Singapore's up-and-coming Feng Tianwei.
Feng went toe-to-toe with Zhang in furious rallies, sustained only by lighting-quick reflexes from both. Zhang played the ball tightly to Feng's body but the Singaporean made the most minute adjustments to shift between her forehand and backhand as needed.
The crowd gasped at the fastest table tennis seen on the women's side at these Olympics -- and at the realisation that someone from a country other than China may be on track to becoming world number one.
Zhang won 13-11 12-14 14-12 12-10 and 13-11.
"Feng is a very young player and is still maturing. It's very hard to play against players like that, you never know how they're going to be," Zhang said.
Wang Nan and Guo Yue both had easier matches, setting up their China versus China semi-final clash.
"It will be very competitive. The two are very familiar," Coach Shi said. "They'll have to prepare themselves. The coaches won't be involved."
MANCHESTER UNITED NEWS
Danny Simpson is acclimatising to life on loan at Blackburn Rovers, and is pushing for regular first-team action at Ewood Park.
The 21-year-old full back will spend the entire season working under Paul Ince and, although he was an unused substitute in Rovers' opening day win at Everton, Simmo is confident his chance will come.
"I feel settled now," he said. "I will just keep training hard and when I get my chance I'll prove myself.
"He (Sir Alex) said 'don't just do your training, do your extra bits you do at United, and don't be afraid to ask people at Blackburn to do the extra bits because that will improve you'."
Having embarked on a host of loan deals before, Simpson is well aware that his activities at Blackburn will be closely monitored by Sir Alex and his coaching staff.
"He also said to me 'you'd better play well because I'll be watching you,' so he'll be keeping a close eye on me," Danny revealed. "But I want to prove to myself that I can challenge at this level, so it's a big season for me."
Ryan Giggs admits United must match Chelsea for hunger in order to retain the Barclays Premier League trophy for a third straight season.
The Reds have pipped the Blues to the title in the last two seasons and, having endured barren years himself with United, Giggs is well aware of the galvanising effect such silverware starvation can have.
"They didn't win the Premier League last year," Ryan told Sky Sports News.
"I've been in that position where you've not won it. You're hungry and determined, and you want to win it, simple as that.
"We've got to match their determination, their hunger and their desire. We've got players at the club who've tasted success over the last couple of years and want more."
Chelsea made a flying start to the new campaign by crushing Portsmouth at Stamford Bridge, while an injury-hit United side were held at home by Newcastle.
Giggs isn't too perturbed to be trailing Luiz Felipe Scolari's side so early on, however, and feels that the signing of a new striker would further enhance United's chances of completing a Premier League hat-trick.
"We're all disappointed we didn't win as every team wants to get off to a winning start, but we did okay," he said. "Obviously, Carlos was not there on Sunday, which was disappointing, and Wayne missed a bit of pre-season.
Silvestre adds savvy to young Gunners
The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, says Mikaël Silvestre will add an extra dimension to his youthful squad and bolster the Gunners' challenge for honours. The French defender completed his move from Manchester United yesterday on a two-year deal for £750,000. Wenger said: "We have a strong squad but a young squad and Mikaël's versatility, experience and calibre will provide the extra depth we need to reinforce our challenge for honours this season. His defensive adaptability will serve us well and it's a big plus that Mikaël has top-level experience and a great understanding of football in the Premier League."
Ryan Borroff, The Guardian
Silvestre's move is reported in all the papers - the Daily Mirror's take on the transfer is that "the Old Trafford board are keen to ease their wage bill. Dimitar Berbatov is set to join soon on big money and United will save £55,000 a week by selling Silvestre."
Speaking of Berbatov, The Sun claims a picture exclusive with its photo of the Spurs striker signing a fan's United shirt. The paper quotes an onlooker as saying, "I was gobsmacked when he took the shirt and signed it. He didn’t have any problems with it at all. If I was one of Berbatov’s team-mates or a Spurs fan, I’d be furious. It is incredibly disrespectful - he may as well have kissed the United badge."
National team affairs dominate the back pages with the announcement of FA chief exec Brian Barwick's departure, plus the usual post-mortem on England failing to win a friendly.
End~ 3.51am.