Chinese badminton superstar Lin Dan came through in three sets over Simon Santoso of Indonesia on Friday to set up a Singapore Open semi-final date with Denmark’s world number five Peter Gade.
The top Chinese men’s player, ranked second in the world and known as Super Dan to his legions of fans, was made to work hard for his victory after he lost the first game 14-21 with Santoso refusing to be cowed by his opponent. Lin’s renowned jumping smashes and deceptively quick reflexes at the net won him key points at crucial stages of the final two games, which he took 21-13 and 22-20 to secure a semi-final place against Gade. The veteran Dane had earlier won in two sets against China’s Du Pengyu 21-15 and 21-15.
“I tried to adopt a more relaxed approach in today’s game and that may have allowed me to play more freely,” Lin, who plays left-handed, told a post-match news conference. The Chinese superstar has won every major title in the sport with only the Super Series trophy missing from his cabinet but Lin says he is only focused on playing his best. “Badminton is not only about winning. What is important to me is about playing hard, doing my best and putting up a good show for the spectators,” the 27-year-old said.
Lin played too few events to make it to last season’s finale and is hoping to make amends this year by qualifying for the season-ending tournament in December. The Singapore Open is the fifth leg of the 12-stop series with the top eight men’s and women’s singles players and doubles pairs qualifying for the end-of-year showpiece. In earlier matches, Chinese women’s world number one Wang Shixian overcame a tough challenge from German Juliane Schenk to advance to the semi-finals.
The reigning All-England champion showed her class and grit after losing the first set 17-21 to come through 21-15 and 22-20 in the last two sets. “I just tried to cut down on my mistakes in the second game,” Wang said afterwards. “Losing did cross my mind but I just tried to be patient and play it point by point,” the 21-year-old said.
Wang won the second set when her served was judged wrongly by the German to be going out, taking the match to a third set thriller which was closely fought all the way to the end.
The Chinese champion had to call on all her resources to stave off her spirited opponent with lightning fast smashes and drop shots to finally win the quarter-final. The number one seed took the final game to deuce at 20-20 with a winning smash after trapping Schenk at the net with a delicate drop shot, before sealing her victory with another irretrievable smash. “I knew it was going to be tough,” said Schenk, who was proud of her showing despite losing to her more illustrious Chinese opponent. “She is number one… today everyone tried their best, maybe she speeded it up a little more (after losing the first game),” she said.
Elsewhere in the men’s tournament, rising young Chinese player Wang Zhengming beat reigning Danish world junior champion Viktor Axelsen in straight sets 21-15 21-10. “Prior to the game, I watched videos of matches that Viktor played in to analyse his play,” said Zheng.
“That helped me to prepare and my strategy was to restrict his movement,” said the 21-year-old.
Zheng, who has been touted as a future Chinese star and possible successor to Lin, said he preferred to concentrate on improving his game.
“Lin Dan is irreplaceable but I hope to follow in his footsteps,” said Zheng. “I think I have to be more focused on my game and not let what outsiders say affect me,” he added.
