LONDON, Aug 13: Lee Chong Wei’s bid to become the first Malaysian to win a world badminton title carried him impressively to the final as he dethroned defending champion Chen Jin on Saturday.

The Chinese player who caused a surprise a year ago in Paris by snatching the title was now able to contend only for a while, early in the second game, eventually being outplayed 21-13, 21-9 by the brilliantly athletic world number one.

It was Lee’s first real test of the week, yet there was only briefly any doubt that his high-paced style, supplemented by bursts of well-timed attacking as his opponent weakened, would prevail. Chen fought as hard as he could, but increasingly found himself plunging fruitlessly across the floor after the shuttle, or gambling with ambitious attacks which increased his error ratio.

“We were both patient, and then I started to play my game,” said Lee. “I have prepared well at Bath university for two weeks and was at my best against him today.

“It will be my first world final and I really want to win the title,” added the man who will probably cause a public holiday in Malaysia if he succeeds.

Lee was 11-7 ahead at the first game interval, and then accelerated from 14-10 to 20-10 to take a hold of the match.

Although he slipped to 3-7 down in the second, he repaired the damage with a five-point winning sequence, and from 8-8 to 17-8 he tore Chen apart with fast and early net shots and sudden sliced smashes.

Earlier, Wang Yihan showed how well she has recovered from the lower back injury which prevented her from flying to the All-England championships in March, overcoming her compatriot Wang Xin by 21-14, 21-15 to reach the women’s singles final.

Wang Yihan used her height to get overhead drops down steeply, smashed well, and also moved encouragingly easily against an opponent who had reached last year’s world final in Paris.

She also turned around a 5-9 deficit in the second game, taking seven points in a row, and then recovered from 13-15 down with another seven-point sequence, attacking consistently most of the time.

Earlier, another all Chinese match ended with the retirement of Xu Chen and Ma Jin after losing the first game 21-17 in their mixed doubles semi-final against Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, the Super Series finals winners. Ma Jin had an ankle injury.

Results (x denotes seeding): Men’s singles: Semi-final: Lee Chong Wei (MAS x1) bt Chen Jin (CHN x6) 21-13, 21-9.

Women’s singles: Semi-final: Wang Yihan (CHN x2) bt Wang Xin (CHN x3) 21-14, 21-15.

Mixed doubles: Semi-final: Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei (CHN x1) bt Xu Chen/Ma Jin (CHN x6) 21-17 retired.—AFP