CHINA MASTERS 2010 SF – Baun to face Nemesis

Tine Baun will be one of the three non-Chinese players involved in the finals of the Li-Ning China Masters in Changzhou on Sunday – along with Ko and Yoo of Korea. She stunned the top seed Wang Yihan and will face her nemesis, the in-form Wang Xin, for an appealing final, while Chen Long and Lin Dan will play for gold in the men’s singles.

By Raphaël Sachetat. Photos: Yves Lacroix/Badmintonphoto (live from Changzhou)

Tine Baun likes to play in China. That’s what she told the local press right after she spoiled the party and beat the world’s number one Wang Yihan in Changzhou. Of course, winning helps, but the Dane has shown a great form so far in the tournament, edging Pi Hongyan in straight games in the quarter-finals before pulling an “All England” trick on Wang Yihan in the semis.  With this victory, the Dane leads the young Chinese star 5-3 in their head-to-head meetings with victories in their last 4 encounters. But this time, unlike the three latest times they had met, it took only 2 games for the Dane to crush her younger opponent.

Yihan was no match in the first game, in which she trailed from start to finish for a clean 21-16 win by Baun. Wang started to find solutions in the beginning of the second game, where her attacks where sharper and she was taking more initiatives while Baun committed some mistakes. However, the Dane found the will and the energy to catch up and overtake her Chinese opponent from 14-16 to finally win 21-19.  Baun looks like a potential winner as she hasn’t dropped a single game in the tournament so far.

Baun will meet Wang Xin, who has definitely found a new youth since the beginning of 2010 and her win in Malaysia. Just as in Paris last month, Wang beat Wang Shixian 21-13, 21-11 in the other semi-final but this time saved some energy which she will need for her final showdown. It will be revenge time for the Dane, who now has the change to beat her nemesis.  In 4 meetings, the Dane has never beaten Wang Xin, but the last two times were very close and ended in the same score line of 21-19 in the decider. The final looks promising…

China still on for clean sweep

Chen Long seemed to be more eager to beat his opponent of the day, and he was the one clinching the first spot in the final of the men’s singles event. Even if Bao Chunlai had more post match interviews, it was he who had lost to his younger compatriot in quite a quick semi-final, bowing 18-21, 12-21 while Lin Dan, still making a fuss on line calls – and asking for video replay for some – took care of the new kid on the Chinese block – Wang Zhengming, in straight games as well.

The match of the day however was in a different event. Everyone had in mind last year’s world championships’ final where Cai and Fu had saved some match points against Lee and Jung before clinching gold. This time again, the show was just superb and kept the numerous spectators on the edge of their seats. The Chinese, just like in India, managed to play better at the right time and eventually won 20-22, 21-13, 21-17.  They are to meet another Korean pair, the less established yet very solid Ko Sung Huyn and Yoo Yeon Seong, who got past Malaysia’s last hope in the tournament, Chan and Lim, 21-18, 21-10.

The Koreans have won both finals they’ve entered this year but this is their first match against Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng, who beat each of them separately in their old pairings on their way to the final of last year’s China Masters.

A major surprise in the mixed doubles saw the hot favourites Widianto/Natsir bow to China’s Xu Chen and Yu Yang – the latter had clinched the Olympic bronze with He Hanbin but seems to be in good track to win her first title with Xu Chen. They’ll play their compatriots Tao Jianming and Tian Qing. In the women’s doubles, as well, the top seeds were stunned by a younger Chinese pair as Cheng and Chien of Chinese Taipei went down to Bao Yixin and Lu Lu who were very eager to win and showed a lot of emotion on court in their three-game success. They will face Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli – another scratch pair – in the final.

All results HERE