Birmingham: The 34-year-old Lin Dan beat the No. 2 seed Lee Chong Wei 21-16, 21-17 in the quarterfinals of All England in their 40th encounter on Friday.
Lee Chong Wei got off to quick lead in the first set, mixing up his stroke and speed to lead 5-2, 10-8, 16-15, before Lin Dan started to smash his way and forced Lee to commit a lot of unforced errors to finish the first set 21-16.
The second set was a close resemblance of the first set, where Lee was leading 13-10 before Lin Dan started scoring through his sudden change of pace and deadly smashes to finish the second set 21-17.
“We both played extremely well. Lee is a strong competitor, it was a great match,” said Lin.
Lee who was originally looking to defend the All England title, remained upbeat despite the defeat.
“There are a lot of upcoming tournaments, and I will move forward from this,” said Lee.
Lin will play teammate Huang Yuxiang in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Rio Olympic champion Chen Long lost the quarter-final match to compatriot Shi Yuqi, going down 21-10, 21-17.
“I always spar with Chen, but I lost to him all the time,” said Shi. The No. 7 seed Shi Yuqi will play No. 5 seed Son Wan Ho on Saturday.
In men’s doubles, Malaysia’s Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong allowed Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen of Denmark to claw back from 14-17 to 19-17 in the first set and ultimately suffered a 20-22 narrow defeat. The Danes showed no mercy as they unleashed their full repertoire of shots, clinching an 21-11 victory in the second set.
Boe/Mogensen will play Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe of Japan on Saturday while No. 6 seeds Mads Conrad-petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding will play No. 1 seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the other men’s doubles semi-finals.
