Birmingham: 2-time Olympics gold medalist Lin Dan of China shrugged off a defiant Kento Momota of Japan 21-18, 21-19 on Friday to advance to the semi-finals at the 2015 All England.
The Chinese player had to fight through a neck-and-neck first set, where the score was tied 11 times before Lin Dan went full-speed ahead to nail the game. Even though Kento Momota was working very hard trying to close that gap in the second set, but Lin Dan managed to do enough to hold onto his lead and clinch the victory.
In a later match, sixth seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan made it easy on first seed Chen Long of China as he struggled with consistency throughout. The 25-year-old Taiwanese who won the Yonex French Open 2014 in Paris, made a lot of unforced errors and eventually went down to Chen Long 11-21, 11-21 in 47 minutes. Chen Long will clash with Lin Dan in the men’s singles semi-final on Saturday. Meanwhile, Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen will take on Japanese Sho Sasaki in another men’s singles semi-final.
China suffered a major setback in the women’s singles category, as second seed Wang Shixian was stunned by Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan in a 3-set thriller losing 18-21, 21-9, 19-21; meanwhile, fifth seed Wang Yihan also crashed out of the tournament after she was defeated by Saina Nehwal of India 19-21, 6-21. Saina Nehwal will take on 20-year-old Sun Yu of China in the semi-final and Tai Tzu Ying now faces the daunting task of trying to defeat reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the semi-final.
In men’s doubles, the high-flying Denmark pair Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding will square off against Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan of China in the semi-final.
