Singapore Badminton Open – A picture story of the semi-finals

China’s mixed doubles pair of Zheng Bo/Ma Jin was the first to confirm a podium spot at the 2009 Singapore Badminton Open when they threw out reigning Olympic champions Lee Yong Dae/Lee Hyo Jung of Korea in straight sets scores of 21-14, 21-18. (Photo 1 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

The 2008 Olympic mixed doubles champions Lee/Lee, seeded 2nd in this tournament, dished out an erratic performance in the semi-final. This is the Koreans 4th consecutive defeat to the Chinese pair, who are seeded 5th in this tournament. (Photo 2 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

China’s 6th seeded pair of Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen then made it an all-Chinese mixed doubles final when they swept aside reigning world champion Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia in 2 games of 22-20. (Photo 3 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Top seed Hong Kong’s Zhou Mi registered a back-to-back Singapore Badminton Open women’s singles final’s appearance after disposing of China’s 3rd seeded Wang Lin 22-20, 21-18. (Photo 5 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)

The 2007 World Junior champion Wang Lin was playing a game of catch-up with Zhou when she made massive comebacks in the first game to level up on 3 occasions (3-10, 12-17 and 18-20). In the second game, Zhou had held match point at 20-11, but Wang managed to reduce the gap to 20-18 before Zhou finished her off. (Photo 6 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)

Clearly a crowd favourite, Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana has entered his second Singapore Badminton Open finals in three years after edging out Korea’s top shot Park Sung Hwan in 3 games with scores of 19-21, 21-18, 21-13. (Photo 7 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)

Korea’s Park Sung Hwan is still recovering his full fitness as he had to fufil 4 weeks of military training this year and was forced to miss the European Super Series’ legs (All-England and Swiss Open) in the month of March. (Photo 8 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)

The 25-year-old Park Sung Hwan was at wits end in the tiebreaker with Boonsak increasing the pace of the match while his lack of fitness left him in a compromising position. (Photo 9 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)

In disbelief, Boonsak has also been battling with an ankle and shoulder injury for the first half of the year has made full recovery and is in prime position to take his second Super Series’ title in Singapore once again. (Photo 10 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)

Former world number 1 China’s Xie Xingfang recovered from a first set deficit to outplay her junior Jiang Yanjiao 17-21, 21-10, 21-19 and entered her first Super Series’ final this year. (Photo 11 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)

In a post-match interview, Jiang Yanjiao revealed that she has given her best in the semi-final but was unable to repeat her feat at the Swiss Open in March where she had defeated Xie in the second round and only bowed out in the final. (Photo 12 © Marvin Lowe/Red Sports)

In straight sets scores of 21-19, 21-18, China’s Bao Chunlai saw off his 4th seeded compatriot Chen Jin for a place in the men’s singles final. (Photo 14 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Chen Jin, who was the World Junior champion in 2002 and 2004, was the last surviving seed in the men’s singles event and his exit meant that the men’s singles final is the only event where both the finalists are unseeded underdogs. (Photo 15 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

China’s 5th seeded pair of Zhang Yawen/Zhao Tingting piped Korea’s 3rd seeded pair of Kim Min Jung/Ha Jung Eun to safeguard the Chinese dominance in this event. China has bagged the women’s doubles title for 11 consecutive editions of the Singapore Badminton Open. (Photo 16 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Ha/Kim was Korea’s last hope for a medal in Singapore. Despite being a badminton powerhouse, the last time Korea took home a title in Singapore was in 2003 when the legendary mixed doubles pair of Kim Dong-moon/Ra Kyung-min won the title for the second year in running. (Photo 17 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

After barely surviving the quarter-final, the reigning Olympic champions Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia secured a convincing semi-final victory over the 4th seeded Danish pair of Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen in scores of 21-12, 21-16. (Photo 18 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

The 2003 World Champions, Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen are veterans on the badminton circuit, they own a mean age of 32.5-years-old. (Photo 19 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

“We did it!” – The reigning Olympic champions and World champions, on the other hand, still have many years in them though, they are still in search of their first Super Series title this year. (Photo 20 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

A passionate Indonesian fan has dolled himself up and his boisterous cheering will give the 2 pairs of Indonesian finalists a much needed boost as Indonesia joins hands with England, Thailand and Hong Kong to prevent a Chinese clean sweep in Singapore. (Photo 21 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)