Lin, Xie lead all Chinese finals

Lin, Xie lead all Chinese finals

Agence France-Presse, Tokyo

World number ones Lin Dan and his girlfriend Xie Xingfang
paved their way through to the all-Chinese men's and women's
singles finals at the Japan Open badminton tournament on
Saturday.

Lin breezed past last European hope Kenneth Jonassen of
Denmark 17-14, 15-10 to set up the men's final against Chen Hong,
the winner over Athens Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat of
Indonesia 15-9, 15-5.

Xie, who took the top ranking announced on Thursday after
winning six tournaments in a row including the most prestigious
All England, stretched her singles match winning streak to 34 by
beating Pi Hongyan of France 11-7, 11-5.

On Sunday, Xie will take on Athens Olympic and world champion
Zhang Ning, who struggled to beat Wang Chen of China 11-6, 6-11,
13-11.

"I played with Pi Hongyan so many times and we know each other
very well. I was able to control the game pretty well today. I
think I did everything what I wanted to do today," said Xie after
the 33-minute match.

Xie explained that her play became steady as she has worked
hard after she was dropped out of the national team for the
Olympics, and it brought her the number one ranking.

"Of course, I'm glad to become the world number one, but I
want to compete in a big event like the Olympics, the world
championships, the Uber Cup and the Sudirman Cup as the number
one player," said Xie, 24.

And Xie expects Zhang to be the most likely player to stop her
match winning streak.

"There are a lot of good players who are at the same level as
me, and I think Zhang Ning has the highest possibility to beat me
among them all," said Xie.

Meanwhile, Zhang said she could not play at her best because
she had trouble against the winds caused by the air conditioner
and the lights over the court.

"I've played in Japan many times before, but it is difficult
to control the shuttle, because the winds are irregular. It is
different every year," said veteran Zhang, 29.

For the final against Xie, Zhang said: "She has more strength
and is speedier than me, we play a similar attacking game, and
she is younger. That's why she's been winning recently."

"I must change the rhythm and tactics if I can beat her
tomorrow," Zhang said.

Both the men's and women's final are a re-match of the All
England finals where Xie and Chen ended on the winning side.