General

Baun earns perfect ending
Date: 3/9/2013 11:50 AM
Published by : Manuel Røsler

Tine Baun (pictured) is one win away from the perfect fairytale ending to her glittering badminton career. The Danish superstar is through to her fourth women’s singles final at the Yonex All England Open Championships after the seventh seed won a titanic 75-minute duel with Korean fifth seed Sung Ji Hung 24-22 19-21 21-19.

Baun said “I was just enjoying being out there as I have done in every match. it is mentally tough to think it might be my last match, I have gained confidence throughout this tournament and been playing really good rallies”.

“I definitely didn’t expect to be in the final, I had a dream of being in the final, but I didn’t expect it – but I am still definitely retiring.”

Sung Ji Hyun said: “When it was one set each, I thought that I might have the chance to win the match. But as the time goes by I became tired. The match went for over an hour. I thought that I should have been more attacking, rather than so defensive. By the end of the match I had run out of energy.

The final will be a battle of youth against experience as 18-year-old Intanon Ratchanok will take on the 33-year-old 2008 and 2010 champion and 2009 runner-up. Ratchanok, the three-times world junior champion, is through to her first Superseries final after stunning Indian second seed Saina Nehwal 21-15 21-19 in almost half the time it took Baun to win.

Ratchanok said: "I will try my best tomorrow because tomorrow is the final and this time I already feel happy with myself because I have made it to the final."

Ratchanok is the first Thai woman to reach an All England final and the first Thai player since Charoen Wattanasin lost to Denmark’s Erland Kops in the 1960 and 1962 men’s singles finals.

Malaysian top seed Lee Chong Wei will be appearing in his fifth consecutive final as he chases a third men’s singles crown and looks to make up for last year’s disappointment when he had to retire hurt in the final against Lin Dan.

Top seed Chong Wei defeated Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 22-20 21-8 in 36 minutes and will face China’s second seed Chen Long, who reached his first All England final by coming from behind in both games to beat Denmark’s Jan Ø. Jørgensen 21-19 22-20. The Dane had never previously been beyond the second round.

China, who failed to produce a women’s singles semi-finalist for the first time since 1995 after winning eight of the last 10 finals, are still in with a chance of four titles.

They will contest the men’s doubles when Liu Xialong and Qiu Zihan face Japanese fourth seeds Hiroyuki Eno and Kenichi Hayakawa.

China are also assured the women’s doubles title when Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang take on Cheng Shu and Shao Yunlei. Zhao and Olympic and world champion partner Zhang Nan, who won the mixed doubles title in 2010, will meet Indonesian defending champions and second seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir in the mixed final.

Ahmad and Natsir’s semi-final win denied team-mates Markis Kido and Pia Zebadiah the chance of becoming the first brother and sister finalists.

Tomorrow’s finals day show begins at 11am and tickets are still available but only on the door at the NIA Box Office.

For full results and tournament news go to www.allenglandbadminton.com

Article by William Kings, Photo (Live) by BadmintonPhoto.

©badmintoneurope.com. All rights reserved.

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