Reuters - 1 hour 29 minutes
ago
BIRMINGHAM, England, March 8 - World champion Lin Dan of China
reached the All England final for the fifth year in succession on
Saturday with a comfortable 21-14 21-14 victory over compatriot Bao
Chunlai.
His opponent on Sunday will be another Chinese, fourth seed Chen
Jin who beat second seed and former world number one Lee Chong Wei
of Malaysia 21-18 21-18.
Top seeded Lin, winner in 2004, 2006 and 2007, produced a
devastating spell from midway in the first game, when he trailed
14-12, to capture 10 points in succession and take control.
Bao, seeded three, managed to pull back from 9-2 down in the
second to a more respectable 12-6 down but Lin eased home.
Chen, winner of last year's Swiss Open, will be making his first
All England final appearance after ousting the in-form Lee.
The Malaysian had started favourite after beating Olympic
champion Taufik Hidayat in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Lee made the early running but lost the advantage midway through
the first game and struggled after that. He managed to save three
match points from 20-15 down in the second game but finally
succumbed to a powerful Chen smash.
Lee, who now heads for next week's Swiss Open, told reporters:
"I didn't play well at all today. I was very slow. I don't know
why. I'm very disappointed."
In the women's final, third seed Lu Lan will fly the flag for
China after beating seventh seeded Xu Huaiwen of Germany 21-13
21-14.
She will meet either Tine Rasmussen of Denmark, who beat world
champion Zhu Lin earlier in the week, or South Korea's Hwang
Hye-youn.