Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei moved to within one win of his third successive All-England Open title when he edged past an old rival, Lee Hyun-Il 21-19, 21-18, on Saturday to reach the final.
No men's singles player has achieved that since Rudy Hartono, the Indonesian great 38 years ago, but Lee's movement and ability to respond quickly to changing situations suggest he is well capable of it.
Earlier, the women's singles defending champion Wang Shixian was beaten 20-22, 21-18, 21-18 in the semifinal by her compatriot Wang Yihan, the top-seeded World champion.
The results (semifinals):
Men: Singles : Lee Chong Wei (Mas) bt Lee Hyun-Il (Kor) 21-19, 21-18. Doubles: Jung Jae Sung & Lee Yong Dae (Kor) bt Mathias Boe & Carsten Mogensen (Den) 21-14, 21-13.
Women: Singles : Wang Yihan (Chn) bt Wang Shixian (Chn) 20-22, 21-18, 21-18; Li Xuerui (Chn) bt Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe) 19-21, 21-16, 21-10.
Doubles : Wang Xiaoli & Yu Yang (Chn) bt Huan Xia & Tang Jinhua (Chn 21-13, 21-18.
Quarterfinals results : Women's singles: Tai Tzu Ying bt Sung Ji Hyun (Kor) 20-22, 21-14, 21-14; Wang Shixian bt Jiang Yanjiao (Chn) 21-18, 21-10; Wang Yihan bt Tine Baun (Den) 19-21, 25-23, 21-9.
Men's singles : Lee Chong Wei bt Dionysius Rumbaka (Ina) 21-9, 21-11; Lin Dan (Chn) bt Taufik Hidayat (Ina) 21-18, 21-8; Lee Hyun-Il bt Daren Liew (Mas) 21-15, 21-13; Kenichi Tago (Jpn) bt Chen Long (Chn) 22-24, 21-12, 21-14.
