Singapore Open Badminton: Lin Dan recovers to beat Peter Gade 2-1 in semi-final

By Stefanus Ian/Red Sports

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Saturday, June 18, 2011 — Lin Dan recovered from a game down against Peter Gade to win 20-22, 21-17, 21-15 at the Singapore Open. The win set up an all-Chinese final with Lin Dan scheduled to play Chen Jin in the final.

Down 16-20 in the first set, Peter Gade saved four game points as he reeled off six successive points to win the first set 22-20. However, Lin Dan turned on the style after that and led for most of the other two games.

After dominating the Singapore Open for the past few days, the Chinese players had a rough patch today with Wang Shixian, Wang Zhengming, as well as their mixed and men’s doubles pairs crashing out in the semi-finals. With the exception of the Chinese men’s doubles pair and Wang Zhengming, the rest were top seeds in the tournament.

The Indonesians were perfect on the court, recording victories which knocked out the Chinese pairs, while Tine Baun dumped Wang Shixian, the world number one women’s singles player, in straight games. Wang Zhengming fell to compatriot Chen Jin.

Feeling the effects of her punishing match against Juliane Schenk the previous day, a sluggish Wang Shixian was defeated 15-21, 16-21 by Tine Baun in the women’s singles semi-finals.

When asked after the match if fatigue was a factor, Wang turned down the suggestion curtly.

“She (Tine Baun) played her shots faster and with more power today,” said Wang.

Tine Baun was clearly pleased with her performance as she was all smiles during the press conference.

“I’m surprised to be here after coming back from my injury but that’s sometimes what happens when you come in with no expectations,” said Baun.

Commenting on the draft in the stadium, she felt that she was more comfortable with it than Wang.

“I was able to adjust my game to the draft and speed up the game after that,” added Baun.

Tine Baun will fight for the Singapore Open women’s singles title against Wang Xin, the world number two, on Sunday, June 19th.

The Indonesian mixed pair of Tantowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir was down 6-15 at one point against Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei of China, but they mounted a late, late charge to save five match points to level the scores at 20-20 to go on to win the set 23-21.

Riding on the momentum of the first set, Tantowi and Liliyana made a strong start in the second game, leading from start to finish to complete the victory, 21-16. Tantowi fell on his knees and let out a primal scream of joy to celebrate their first ever victory against the Chinese pair.

“The last time round we were leading 20-17 in the rubber set and lost, so we knew we could win against them,” said Liliyana about their last encounter in Korea.

Tantowi and Liliyana will battle for the Singapore Open mixed doubles’ title against Chinese Taipei’s Chen Hung Ling and Cheng Wen Hsing on Sunday, June 19th.

The Indonesian men’s doubles pair overcame the top seed of the tournament in a thrilling match to prevent an all-Chinese final. The Indonesian pair of Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Aprida Gunawan took 72 minutes to defeat the Chinese pair of Chai Biao and Guo Zhendong 21-19, 24-26, 21-14.

Alvent and Hendra stormed to an early 6-0 lead in the first game as the Chinese were slow off the blocks. Though they managed to catch up at 19-20, the Indonesians prevailed, sealing the first game 21-19.

The second game was a crowd-pleaser with the two pairs exchanging leads throughout the match. It was an epic end to the game as both pairs traded blows, with every point a battle in itself.

The Chinese finally leveled the match, winning the second game 26-24. The third set was also a close affair but it was the Indonesians who were able to pull away when the score was tied at 13-13 as they scored four consecutive points to seal their place in the final.

The Chandra-Gunawan pair will face another Chinese pair, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, on Sunday, June 19th.