BIRMINGHAM: Lee Chong Wei moved to within one step of winning back the All-England title with an increasingly superb performance, which enabled him to win his semifinal in little more than half an hour.

Lee beat the surprise survivor, Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand, by 22-20, 21-8 to reach his fifth final. Lee had been so disappointed by his patchy quarterfinal performance that he said he wanted to forget it, but now in the second game his control, containment, and brilliantly timed counter-attacks were of the highest order.

Later another Thai player did reach a singles final. This was Ratchanok Intanon, who at the age of 18 became the first women’s singles player from her country ever to reach an All-England final and the first of either sex for 50 years.

Intanon did that by winning 21-15, 21-19 against Saina Nehwal, the second seeded Indian who had become the tournament favorite since the first day defeat of Olympic champ[ion Li Xuerui.

Nehwal, who set out to contain and to rally, looked burdened with expectations, and her state of mind was revealed in one disoriented moment at 15-18 down when she unaccountably let a high serve drop toward the floor.

At the last moment she changed her mind and tried a panicky swipe, but the return only set up an easy thumping kill for Intanon at the net.

Nehwal nevertheless fought very hard and pulled back a five-point deficit to one at 20-19 in the second game. But then she undid all the good work with a little net shot which failed to go over as Intanon took the concluding rally into the forecourt.