TOKYO, April 6: Lee Hyun-Il of South Korea will take on China’s Xia Xuanze for the Japan Open men’s badminton title after contrasting victories in their semifinals on Saturday.

Lee, the fifth seed, demolished India’s Pulella Gopichand 7-1, 7-4, 7-3 in just 33 minutes with last year’s All England champion virtually defencless against the Korean’s attacking smashes.

Lee will be more refreshed for Sunday’s final than Xia, the Asian champion, who had to fight back from two games down and 1-4 in the third to beat Japan’s Keita Masuda 5-7, 1-7, 7-5, 7-4, 7-0.

The women’s singles final will be an all-Chinese affair between defending champion and top seed Zhou Mi and 1999 Malaysian Open champion Dai Yun.

Zhou amazingly won 15 rallies in a row from a 5-3 lead in the first game to 5-0 in the third on her way to a lopsided 7-3, 7-0, 7-2 victory over her former teammate Wang Chen, who now represents Hong Kong.

Fifth-seeded Dai pulled off her first win in many years and only her second win overall against fellow Chinese and Asian champion Zhang Ning with a 1-7, 7-5, 7-0, 7-5 performance.—AFP