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| 10 April 2005 | Sunday | 30 Safar 1426 |
Lin and Xie lead all Chinese singles finals: Badminton
Lin breezed past last European hope Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark 17-14, 15-10 to set up the men’s final against Chen Hong, the winner over Athens Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia 15-9, 15-5.
Xie, who took the top ranking announced Thursday after winning six tournaments in a row including the most prestigious All England, stretched her singles match winning streak to 34 by beating Pi Hongyan of France 11-7, 11-5.
On Sunday, Xie will take on Athens Olympic and world champion Zhang Ning, who struggled to beat Wang Chen of China 11-6, 6-11, 13-11.
Xie explained that her play became steady as she has worked hard after she was dropped out of the national team for the Olympics, and it brought her the number one ranking.
And Xie expects Zhang to be the most likely player to stop her match winning streak.
Meanwhile, Zhang said she could not play at her best because she had trouble against the winds caused by the air conditioner and the lights over the court.
For the final against Xie, Zhang said: “She has more strength and is speedier than me, we play a similar attacking game, and she is younger. That’s why she’s been winning recently.”
Both the men’s and women’s final are a re-match of the All England finals where Xie and Chen ended on the winning side.
Results:
Men’s singles semifinals: Lin Dan bt Kenneth Jonassen 17-14, 15-4; Chen Hong bt Taufik Hidayat 15-9, 15-5
Women’s singles semifinals: Zhang Ning bt Wang Chen) 11-6, 6-11, 13-11; Xie Xingfang bt Pi Hongyan 11-7, 11-5
Men’s doubles semifinals: Jens Eriksen/Martin Lundgaard Hansen (DEN x1)bt Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun walked over due to Fu’s ill; Candra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto bt Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen x4) 17-15, 12-15, 15-6
Women’s doubles semifinals: Wang Wei/Zhang Jiewen bt Gao Ling/Huang Sui 15-1, 15-8; Wei Yili/Zhao Tingting bt Kumiko Ogura/Reiko Shiota 15-7, 15-13
Mixed doubles semifinals: Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thungthongkam) bt Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen 15-7, 15-4; Jens Eriksen/Mette Schjoldager bt Chen Qiqiu/Zhao Tingting 15-6, 15-9.—APP
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