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at the Yonex All England - Saturday 12th, Semi-Finals |
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Lee and
Lin create dream All-England final
Richard Eaton reports
Lee Chong Wei will use relaxation techniques to help him
defend his All-England Open title against the threat of the
mighty Lin Dan after reaching the final for the second
successive year.
Lee's excellently taken 21-17, 21-13 win over Chen Long,
the fifth-seeded Chinese, earned the Malaysian a dream final
against the man described as the greatest of modern times.
 Lin
Dan had earlier come through with a 21-9, 16-21, 21-11 win over
Marc Zwiebler, the unseeded German, and will become the
first player of the open era to win five All-England men's
singles titles if he wins the title back tomorrow.
But Lee will try to beat the legend by enjoying the match. "I
try to do that more and it helps me to do better," said Lee, a
more complete player than he has ever been, whose only flaws
perhaps remain with his temperament.
He certainly looked composed and confident against Chen. Lee was
rapidly 9-4 and 13-8 up, and when Chen cut the deficit to two
points, Lee increased the pace of the rallies and surged away
again.
In the second game Chen abandoned his maouevring attacks and
tried to force the issue more � only for Lee to produce two or
three demoralisingly brilliant patches of defence.
Once he turned and retrieved a flick serve, then plunged to make
a mid-court block, hurtled forwards to control a net shot, and
finally elicited an error from Chen.
"I tried my best," said the Chinese player. "But I was not
comfortable with his pace. And he made no mistakes."
 Earlier
Lin was close to his very best in the first and third games but
allowed Marc Zwiebler to fight back unexpectedly in the second
game.
The performance of the unseeded German was also of high quality,
especially as he had spent much of the tournament recovering
from flu, but he was able to perform without pressure of
expectations and he surprised everyone including himself.
"It's always fun playing against Lin Dan," he said. "I can just
try to do my best. I have to accept he is the better badminton
player and if he plays like he did in the first and the third
games there is nothing I can do."
Lin established such a big early dominance that he started
experimenting with outrageous disguises, especially with flocks
from the net and wrong-footing blocks from the mid-court.
Asked if he were playing at the same level as when he last won
the All-England two years ago, Lin implied that he was not.
"I was disappointed with my second game." he said of his
encounter with Zwiebler. And I was in the quarter-finals
before," he said, referring to his 2010 result. "I will just do
my best."
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Hirose has a higher
purpose in her side
Richard Eaton reports
China is certain of contesting both singles finals, and their
hopes of winning the women's singles title back will rest with
top-seeded Wang Shixian, winner of the Malaysian Open and
then a finalist at the first million dollar tournament, the
Korean Open.
 However
it is Wang's opponent, Eriko Hirose, who will in many
ways be the remarkable player, even though she is unseeded and
clearly the underdog.
Not only is she the first Japanese women's singles finalist at
the All-England for 32 years, she says she will be trying to win
the title to cheer her grieving nation up.
"My friends and family are safe," Hirose said, referring to the
earthquake. "But of course there are many, many other people who
are not in that situation.
"So I will be trying to do my best, just to give them some good
news at this time."
 Hirose
has already done that, taking advantage of the withdrawal of the
second-seeded Chinese player, Wang Yihuan, conquering the
fifth-seeded Commonwealth champion from India, Saina Nehwal, and
now deservedly overcoming Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria
21-15, 22-20.
Her movement was impressive. She was early to the net, quick to
retreat for the clears, nimble in changing direction, and never
short of stamina.
Nedelcheva had more power, and recovered from 10-14 to lead
20-19 in the second game. But Hirose played consistent, mobile
badminton for the next three rallies and after converting her
first match point by inducing a net shot error from the
Bulgarian, celebrated with her arms aloft.
"It helped me that I had been in the semi-final here before,"
she said. "I was able to move well from the beginning of the
match, and that was why I won."
 Wang
Shixian however is also a superb mover, and the final
promises to have lots of long rallies, and varied patterns, with
strength of mind likely to be an even more important factor than
it usually is on such huge occasions.
Wang overcame her compatriot
Wang Xin, the world runner-up, 21-19, 21-17, coming from
5-10, 7-11, and 10-13 down in the first game, before gradually
getting on top.
She did that with a fine defence, great mobility, patience, and
intense focus, which should make her odds on to earn China the
title for the seventh time in ten years.
But even if she does, it's likely her unusual opponent will get
many of the plaudits too.
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China
denied a high five
Richard Eaton reports
China's chances of winning all five All-England titles for the
second time in three years were blown away in the match of the
tournament so far - a men's doubles encounter with such
acrobatically improbable rallies and of such prolonged
brilliance that it sometimes sounded as though 5,000 spectators
were simultaneously tearing hair out.
At the end of 40 minutes of leaping and plunging, smashing and
blocking, and whipping the shuttle back at speeds of up to 200
miles an hour, Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong
had beaten Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng by 21-11,
21-19, ensuring that the men's doubles final will be between
Malaysia and Denmark.
This stunning triumph for Koo and Tan also reversed the result
of the world championships final in Paris in August, when they
had lost to Cai and Fu in three great games. For a while it
looked as though this might go the distance too.
 That
was because Cai and Fu made a good start to the second game, at
last getting the shuttle through the Malaysians' stonewall
defences and on to the floor more often. They led 9-5 and 11-7,
and after Koo and Tan came back at them, got their noses two
points in front again.
It was then that the rallies became heart-stoppingly
unpredictable. Though the Chinese won the best rally, which
ended with three of the four players on the floor, and carried
them to 16-14, there was an exchange which they lost two points
later, in which they attacked the whole time and still couldn't
finish it, which appeared to have damaged their morale.
After it the Malaysians got to 18-16 and reached match point at
20-19 with a lucky net cord, though that may have roused the
Chinese to attacked their way out of that particular corner,
before there was another twist.
 This
was the game point which Cai and Fu got at 21-20 and might
easily have led to their turning the match around. But they left
the shuttle a little too short, enabling Koo to pound it away
for 21-21, before two angular lefty smashes from Fu finished the
match.
Hardly had the last shuttle hit the deck when Rexy Mainaky,
that familiar figure from his England coaching days, was on the
court and embracing his charges. That is how much of a climax it
felt, but there is another, even bigger one to come.
Koo and Tan will have to get themselves back up again to face
the top-seeded Danes, Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen,
who overcame the other Chinese pair, Chai Biao and Guo
Zhendong, by 26-24, 21-12.
There was one grimly humorous moment when Chai was service
faulted when game point up and rather satirically repeated the
action he thought he had done, but at closer range for the
service judge to review. Of course it made no difference.
 China
will still have their chances tomorrow though - not only in the
men's and women's singles but in the women's and mixed doubles
too. In both of these they will be favourites.
Yu Yang, one half of the Olympic title winning
combination, and an All-England winner last year, could win the
women's doubles with a new parter, Wang Xiaoli, with whom
she takes on the unseeded Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa.
There will though be a good deal of sympathetic support for the
Japanese.
 And
then Ma Lin, who won the world mixed doubles title in
Paris in August with one partner, Zheng Bo, could win the
All-England title with another, Xu Chen.
They beat the Germans, Michael Fuchs and Birgit Michels
and now play the Thais, Sudket Prapakamol and Sarelee
Thoungthongkam. But the tongue-twisters are quite capable of
being form-confounders as well. |
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Lin Dan:
I am disappointed with the second game as I was leading quite
well at the beginning and I wanted to win the match in two
games.
Marc Zwiebler:
It was a hard fight. He made mistakes in the second game which I
benefited from. Now I am very tired but it has been a great week
for me.
My knees are swollen and everything hurts a little but that�s no
excuse � he was the better player.
Now I am looking forward to my holiday for a rest and to gain
the motivation and confidence I need for next week.�
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Xu Chen
& Ma Jin (Chn) bt
Michael Fuchs & Birgit Michels (Ger) 21-19, 21-17 (40m)
 Xu
Chen: The match was not as easy as we first thought. The
opening game was very tough but we played well at the crucial
points in the game and communicated with each other more. We
don�t mind who we play in the final, we will watch the games
later today and discuss our game. It�s the first time we have
played the All England and it�s a great experience.
Michael Fuchs: �This has been such as awesome tournament
for us and I am really sad and disappointed that we lost. We
fought hard to try and win but it just didn�t work out. We�re
going to go home and tonight and rest and get ready for next
week in Switzerland and get ready for a new chance.� |
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[1] Mathias Boe
& Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt
Chai Biao & Guo Zhendong (Chn) 26-24, 21-12 (52m)
Boe: �Obviously it feels
very good to win. It wa san extremely tough match and it was
very close but in the last game we took control and kept
fighting.�
Mogensen: This match was very important to win and I
believe we had the mental ability and came out on top.
The final will be very difficult and we will just have to play
better.
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Eriko Hirose (Jpn)
bt Petya Nedelcheva (Bul)
21-15, 22-20 (42m)
I am happy to be in the final
tomorrow and am very honoured to be the first Japanese woman to
reach the final in the last 34 years.
"My family ands friends are safe [after the earthquake] and I am
playing the final tomorrow for them.�
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[1] Lee Chong
Wei (Mas) bt [5] Chen Long (Chn)
21-17, 21-13 (36m)
I really enjoyed this match and
tried my best and have enjoyed this whole experience of the All
England.
I feel I can still improve a little but I did feel relaxed out
there today.
I am going to retire soon so this will be the second to last
time I will be playing the All England.
I am going to prepare myself mentally for tomorrow�s match
against Lin Dan and I hope I can beat him as I lost to him 2
months ago in Korea.�
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