SINGAPORE, 24 August 2003 — The finals of the Singapore Open badminton tournament will be an all-Chinese affair after unseeded Chen Yu yesterday saw off a challenge from Korea’s Lee Hyun-il in the men’s draw and top seed Zhang Ning emerged victorious from a three-game battle on the women’s side.
Top seed and defending champion Chen Hong easily routed countryman Lin Dan 15-8, 15-11 to set up his title bout with Chen Yu. As he did in earlier rounds, Chen Hong took decisive leads before allowing Lin Dan to reduce the deficit. He led 11-2 in the first game, closing it out at 15-8, and was up 13-5 before winning the second 15-11.
The air conditioning seemed to bother Chen Hong more than his opponents have so far, though he expects a tough fight from his practice partner whom he has yet to meet in an international event.
In the second men’s semifinal yesterday, Lee held a 11-6 advantage in the first game but Chen Yu outsmarted him at the net and managed to win 15-11. The second game began the same way, with Lee taking an early lead, but Chen kept pegging away and was able to take advantage of his tiring opponent to wrap up the match with another 15-11 victory.
There were no surprises in defending champion and fifth seed Zhou Mi’s semifinal matchup with her compatriot Gong Ruina. She dispatched the second seed with ruthless efficiency 11-5, 11-8.
Top seed and world No. 1 Zhang Ning had considerably more trouble overcoming the challenge from a feisty Camilla Martin of Denmark, the seventh seed, to win 11-8, 9-11, 11-5 to set up the all-Chinese final that continues a trend begun in 1999.
Zhou has won all eight previous meetings with Zhang and seemed confident she would retain the Singapore Open title.
Zhang was hopeful that her tenacious play yesterday would help her to avenge her defeat in last year’s final.
