Lee Chong Wei beats Chen Long to meet Lin Dan in the final of All England Open Premier Super Series
Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei crushed Chen Long of China in the semi-final showdown of men’s singles in the All England Open Premier Super Series 2011, at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England today on March 12. The top seed Malaysia took 46 minutes
to beat the fifth seed Chen, who thrashed Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, in the round-of-16, and got rid of Peter Hoeg Gade of Denmark in the quarter-final battle. Chong Wei will meet the third seed Lin Dan of China to make it a dream final for the badminton
fans from around the world.
The world number one shuttler of Malaysia started the opening set in a composed way. He was very quick and perfect in his strokes, as he remained in complete control of the rallies. Long worked hard to match the accuracy and speed of the experienced Malaysian
and reduced the gap by reaching at 8-11, until the half of the first game where the announcement of the one-minute-break was made by the referee.
After getting back into the court, Wei geared up the pace of the game by employing his impressive jump smashes coupled with tumbling net shots. Chen had no answer to the perfectly executed strokes of his opponent, who has not dropped even a single set in
the entire tournament so far. Long reached 17-20, where the Malaysian scored the final point of the opening set and finished it up with a four-point difference of 21-17 by spending 25 minutes on the court.
In the second set, Wei proved that he belongs to the highest class of the game, as he remained ahead of Long throughout the whole game. The world number one established a comfortable lead till the one-minute-break, where he was ahead of Chen by 11-7 margin.
The fifth seed Long executed hard smashes, but Wei’s defence was incredible as he returned the smashes with ease. The Malaysian extended the gap of points and finished the second set with a big margin of 21-13, in just 21 minutes. The final score of the
46-minute semi-final battle was 21-17 and 21-13. The final match of the event will be played on Sunday, March 13.
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