Defending champion Tine Rasmussen staged one of the great escapes at the Yonex All England Championships in Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena this afternoon.The world No. 1 from Denmark came back from a game down and 14-4 and 17-9 down in the second against China’s Jiang Yanjiao to reach the women’s singles final with a 60-minute 22-24 25-23 21-15.At 130 points it was the most points played in a match so far at this year’s Championship.Rasmussen, who has won the Malaysian and Korean Opens in January is chasing a hat-trick of Super Series titles in her 12th Yonex All England Championships but the first when she has been seeded.In the final she will face Wang Yihan, playing her first All England. But she came to Birmingham fresh from victory in the Yonex German Open last weekend when she defeated Zhou Mi, the world No 2.And in the National Indoor Arena she built on a quarter-final win over former champion and former world No 1 Xie Xingfang to beat Denmark’s Nanna Brosolat Jensen 21-11 21-7 to prevent an all-Danish final. The men's singles will be between the world's two top players Lin Dan of China and Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.Lin Dan avenged last year's final defeat by Chen Jin when his team-mate was forced to retire this afternoon with a back strain when trailing 21-12 11-6.Lee Chong Wei, through to his first All England final compared to Lin Dan's sixth, defeated former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat 21-8 21-13.Lee, who won the Super Series Masters in December, is in his third Super Series final this year having won the Malaysian Open and finished runner-up in the Korean final.The men’s doubles final will feature No 7 seeds and former champions Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China against unseeded Korean pair Han Sang Hoon and Hwang Ji Man, who are ranked 160 in the world.The women’s doubles final will be be an all-China final after No 7 seeds Zhang Yawen and Zhao Tingting knocked out Olympic champions and 2008 All England runners-up Du Jing and Yu Yang 16-21 21-16 21-16.Team-mates Cheng Shu and Zhao Yunlei came through the other semi-final, beating fifth seeds Ha Jung Eun and Kim Min Jung.China are chasing all five titles with third seeds He Hanbin and Yu Yang taking on Ko Sung Hyun and Ha Jung Eun of Korea.
http://www.badmintonengland.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment