All England Open: Lin Dan trounces Taufik Hidayat to ease into Men’s Singles semi-final
China’s top shuttler Lin Dan proved his authority in the arena as he reached into Men’s Singles semi-final after trouncing Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat in quarter-final contest of 2012 All England Open Premier Super Series on Friday, March 9, in England.
The reigning World and Olympic Champion Lin, who is placed at number two in the world rankings and second seed in the tournament, showed his elevated class as he played with wonderful speed and easily overpowered Taufik.
The Chinese was impressive in his shot selection and accurate execution and took 44 minutes to beat the former World and Olympic Champion Taufik in straight games.
On the other hand, Taufik played good badminton in the opening set but failed to stop his opponent from winning it.
The Indonesian was in all sorts of trouble in the second game and lost it without impressing the huge local crowd.
Right from the starting points, both shuttlers showed their class by playing wonderful badminton and remained close in the first few rallies.
However, Lin started to play fast badminton by accelerating his speed. His powerful and consecutive attacking strokes disturbed the flow of Taufik who could not dominate the pace of rallies and remained struggling.
Until the one-minute interval in the opening game, Lin was in strong position on the score board by reaching at 11-8.
After the break, both shuttlers employed their wonderful skills and remained toe-to-toe. However, Lin took over the control of rallies from 17-17 and ended the set with a three-point margin of 21-18.
In the second game, Lin was everywhere in the court as he played with impressive speed and score nine consecutive points and remained successful in setting up a superb lead of 11-2 until the break.
After the break, Taufik tried to reduce the difference but he failed to cope up with the speed and power play of Lin, who was not committing any mistake.
The higher ranked Chinese remained consistent in the court and won the second game with a one-sided score of 21-8.
The overall score of this Men’s Singles quarter-final clash was 21-18 and 21-8.
In the semi-final encounter, Lin will take on Kenichi Tago of Japan who stunned Chen Long of China in another quarter-final contest.
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