Mulheim: Two time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China and Denmark’s Jan Ø. Jørgensen stayed on course for the men’s singles final clash after they both advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals at German Open on Friday.
“Super Dan” was left to celebrate a tougher than expected encounter when he was pushed to the limit by 34-year-old Sho Sasaki of Japan before Lin Dan pulled off an incredible comeback to hand the No. 16 Japanese a 21-16, 20-22, 21-17 beating to advance to the semi-finals. Lin will play Korea’s Son Wan Ho for a final berth.
Men’s top seed Jan Ø. Jørgensen was barely troubled and knocked off Chinese fifth seed Tian Houwei 21-18, 21-13 to set up a date with Chou Tien-Chen of Chinese Taipei on Saturday.
Japanese women’s singles No. 5 seed Nozomi Okuhara registered a 21-11, 21-18 upset against third ranked Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea to set up a last-four clash with reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui.
It was quite the statement from Wang Shixian in other women’s single quarter-finals, where she overcame India’s PV Sindhu with 21-16, 21-18 and will meet Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the semis.
Leading men’s doubles pairing Lee Yong-Dae/Yoo Yeon-Seong of South Korea continued their strong run by beating China’s Liu Xiaolong and Qiu Zihan, while Malaysia’s Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong squandered a 20-17 lead in the second set, before losing the match 20-22, 21-23 to No. 6 seeds Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol of Korea.
Lee Yong-Dae/Yoo Yeon-Seong will battle No. 3 seed Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa of Japan while Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol will square off against No. 8 seeds Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov of Russia in the semi-finals.
