All England Open 2018: Lin Dan to fight for 7th title against compatriot Shi Yuqi; Tai Tzu Ying beats Chen Yufei in semis

Birmingham: Lin Dan closed in on a seventh men’s singles title at the Badminton All-England Open championships when he reached Sunday’s final with a 21-14, 13-21, 21-11 victory over Chinese compatriot Huang Yuxiang. [caption id=“attachment_4394899” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] China’s Lin Dan in action during the men’s singles semi-final clash against Huang Yuxiang. Reuters[/caption] If the 34-year-old beats another Chinese opponent, the seventh-seeded Shi Yuqi, he will move to within one title of Rudy Hartono’s record eight All-England titles, although the Indonesian’s successes occurred before the Open era. Lin is already assured of one record, though, after booking his place in a 10th All England final. He was far from his brilliant best in Saturday’s semi-final, however, as the unseeded Huang took advantage of a temporary drop in Lin’s standard of play to take his illustrious opponent to a deciding game. But Lin turned on the style again in the third game, with some clever changes of pace, and sudden penetrating attacks, exuding a confidence which suggested the result was never in doubt. “I think I played quite well,” he said. “I did make some mistakes and that was one of the reasons why I lost the second game. But all my colleagues have been playing well here. “I will try to continue what I am doing and I hope that tomorrow I will take a new record,” he said, referring to the Open era benchmark. His opponent on Sunday, Shi Yuqi, made sure there will be a Chinese winner when he beat Son Wan Ho, the fifth-seeded Korean 21-17, 21-14, to reach the final for the second successive year. There could be a record in the women’s singles too, after Akane Yamaguchi, the World Super Series titleholder from Japan, reached the final in an exhausting one-hour 20-minutes encounter with PV Sindhu, the Olympic silver medallist from India, eventually prevailing 19-21, 21-19, 21-18. If Yamaguchi has enough energy left to beat Tai Tzu Ying, the top-seeded titleholder from Taiwan, she will become the first All-England women’s singles champion from Japan since Hiroe Yuki in 1977, when the game was still officially amateur. Tai beat eighth-seeded Chen Yufei of China 21-15, 20-22, 21-3. Yamaguchi snatched the second game with a dramatic net cord, and then fought back from 7-13 down in the decider. “There were moments when I wanted to quit,” Yamaguchi said. “The rallies were so tough, but I tried to hang in and keep up. “Then I changed my mind, and just tried not to make mistakes. I think that saved me. Now I have a great opportunity.”