Lin bursts into semis, easy for Chong Wei
China's Lin Dan waves to the crowd after conceding to China's Chen Jin in the men's singles final match at the Singapore Badminton Open tournament in Singapore June 19, 2011. — Reuters picBIRMINGHAM, March 10 — Lin Dan blasted his way past old rival Taufik Hidayat 21-18 21-8 on Friday to earn a place in the semi-finals of the All England badminton championships.
The Chinese is the world and Olympic champion, titles held by Hidayat at his peak in the mid-2000s, but time has marched on and the Indonesian has not beaten Lin in seven years.
Friday's defeat took their head-to-head record to 10-3 in favour of the Chinese although for a time an upset looked possible with both men going toe to toe in the first game.
Once Lin took the opener he quickly went 9-0 up in the second with a series of powerful cross-court smashes that left his opponent reeling.
Reminded of his long wait for a win against his Chinese rival, Hidayat said: "Yes it was in 2005 when I was 25. Now I am 31, almost 32. It's sport. You have the generations".
Lin's main rival, titleholder and world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, breezed past unseeded Indonesian Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka 21-9 21-11 in 27 minutes.
He now faces experienced South Korean Lee Hyun-il who enjoyed a comfortable 21-15 21-13 triumph over unseeded Malaysian Daren Liew.
Lin's semi-final opponent in his quest for a fifth All England crown is seventh-seeded Japanese Kenichi Tago who upset number three seed Chen Long of China 22-24 21-12 21-14.
In an enthralling women's singles encounter, top seed and world champion Wang Yihan of China survived four match points to edge out battling Tine Baun of Denmark 19-21 25-23 21-9.
"There's always a loser and a winner and I was just trying to show what I was capable of," said Wang. — Reuters
