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China's Lin reach Japan Open badminton semis, Zhang out
2007-09-14
China's world number ones in badminton earned mixed results at the Japan Open on Friday, with men's top seed Lin Dan securing a spot in the semi-finals and women's defending champ Zhang Ning crashing out. Lin, the current world champion and two-time defending title holder here who has not lost since July, shrugged off a 5-10 deficit in the second game to score a 21-16, 21-19 win over Denmark's Peter Gade. "I was able to play the way I wanted to play, but I'm not still in my best form," said Lin, known as Super Dan to his fans. "Overall I haven't practiced well after winning the world championships. I'm just on my way to regaining my top form." Lin is on course for a probable final showdown against Athens Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, a winner over Park Sung-Hwan of South Korea, 21-17, 21-18. "I think Taufik is the best player in the world. He has won the Olympics and the world championships. I always play trying to catch up with him," said Lin. Hidayat said: "I won the gold medal in the 2004 Olympics, but I was still young then. It's a competition of the highest level, but I still have some titles I haven't won yet. "The people of my country expect me to do more. That's what keeps me continuing to play badminton." In the semi-finals on Saturday, Lin will take on Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, the fourth seed who breezed past fifth-seeded Chen Jin of China, 21-7, 21-16. Hidayat will face compatriot Simon Santoso, the winner over Chan Yan-kit of Hong Kong, 21-16, 21-16. On the women's side, Zhang, who is also the reigning Olympic gold medallist, blamed her own erratic play -- and the strong air conditioning -- for her 21-13, 16-21, 21-18 loss to Denmark's Tine Rasmussen. "In the first game, the wind was against me, so I hit the shuttle longer, but it was unstable and often went out," said Zhang, who lost for the first time here since the 2004 semi-finals. "But I don't feel like I was beaten in a rally. I made too many mistakes. That's why I lost. "Beside, in the recent women's singles, many players started to play with more power. Today, her shuttle often came to where I hadn't expected it to come. I couldn't cope with the shots," said Zhang. Rasmussen has had an impressive tournament so far, beating three top players -- 2006 European champion Xu Huaiwen of Germany, current Asian champion Jiang Yanjiao of China, and then Zhang. But the Dane will not have a chance in the semi-finals to avenge her loss at the world championships to Hong Kong's Wang Chen, who fell to China's Lu Lan 21-11, 12-21, 21-17. In the other semi-final, three-time All England champion Xie Xingfang of China will face Jun Jae-Youn of South Korea. Xie easily brushed aside former Chinese national team member Pi Hongyan, now representing France, 21-15, 21-16, while Jun stopped an excellent run by Hong Kong's Yip Pui-yin with a 25-27, 21-6, 21-8 win.
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