ALL ENGLAND 2010 Final – Rasmussen Gains Sweet Revenge

Rasmussen (pictured) entered the arena to deafening applause from the appreciative All England public and by the look of steel on her face there was only one thing on her mind… GOLD

It was the Dane who settled first and immediately waltzed into a commanding first set lead, from which the Chinese world number 1 was never able to recover. Rasmussen looked so dominant in the opening set that many felt that the second set was almost a formality.

But badminton is a funny game and has more twists and turns than a mountain road in the Alps. As if to completely re write the script Wang Yihan came right back at Rasmussen and in a demonstration of ‘anything you can do I can do better’ inflicted some of the Dane’s own first set medicine right back at her as the Chinese levelled the match with a 21-18 win.

The third and decisive set was to be the main course after both players played around a bit with appetizers in set one and two and from the outset the gloves were off in what turned out to be a battle royal. Rasmussen took the initial lead at 11-7 but stuttered to let the Chinese back into the set as she tied at 12-12.

From here it was clear that whichever player could hold her nerve was going to emerge victorious. Both players matched each other shot for shot and at 17-14 Rasmussen looked to be controlling her nerves better than her opponent but Wang Yihan (pictured) was not going down without a fight and immediately changed tactic and quickened the rallies to pull herself level at 19-19.

The 30-year-old Rasmussen has, however, been here and seen all this before and knows the feeling of both victory and defeat on this the biggest of all badminton stages and with a last flourish she returned everything the Chinese had to throw at her before setting up match point at 20-19. The Dane fell to her knees as she claimed the match with a stunning drive down the line and roared to the heavens as if to expel the memories of her 2009 defeat.

Click on the video interview below to hear Rasmussen’s own thoughts on her victory and what this win means to her: