She knocked out eighth seed Charmaine Reid of Canada 21-16, 21-12.
Cann’s opponent was aggressive and boisterous on court, something which clearly pushed Cann on and gained her the support of the huge crowd in the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.
Afterwards, the former Beaulieu Convent pupil said she believed she was on top of her game.
‘I think I am playing the best badminton of my career so far and I am pretty confident about the tournament.
‘I’ve played her once before so knew that she was an aggressive player, which probably made the victory all that bit better.’ She will now play India’s Lalji Popat, a bronze medallist in Manchester in 2002, in the quarter finals tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Solenn Pasturel came up against number two seed Mew Wong, of Malaysia, who was too strong for the Jersey girl, eventually winning 21-6, 21-11.
Afterwards she said: ‘I knew it was always going to be a tough match against her and she is a very good player.
My aim was to try and encourage her into long rallies, which suits my game more.
This seemed to work in the second set, but she always had something extra to finish the rallies off.
‘I have really enjoyed these Games and they have been a tremendous experience and opportunity because it’s not often that you get the chance to play some of the top players in the world in your sport.’ Earlier in the day, Pasturel had teamed up with Lucy Burns in the last 16 of the women’s doubles match, but they were defeated 10-21, 9-21 by Scotland’s Michelle Douglas and Yuan Wemyss.
