Lee gets the better of Lin Dan

Richard Eaton reports

Lee Chong Wei successfully defended his All-England Open men's singles title when he beat his greatest rival, Lin Dan, the Olympic champion from China, by 21-17, 21-17 in the final.

The top-seeded Malaysian's triumph came as a surprise to many people, for Lin had beaten Lee in three games the month before last at the world's first million dollar tournament, the Korean Open.

That was the Chinese legend's 15th success in 22 encounters with Lee, and he had seemed back to somewhere near his best after an abdominal injury.

But this time Lin rarely tried the fierce airborne attacks for which he has become famous, and Lee's superb movement and excellent shuttle control in the resulting game of cat-and-mouse proved marginally superior.

"I played safe today – I didn't go for the points at all," Lee said. "But I was mentally strong this time."

He immediately got a call from the prime minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak, who told him "good job".

It became evident that Lee might score a famous victory soon after the interval in the first game, when he surged from 11-10 to 17-10 and looked well in control at 18-12.

Some of the rallies were flat and fast, but many of them involve probing clears, lifts and drops, and clever manoeuvring. It was not till the second game that Lin tried to apply much force with his overhead.

However he got back to 17-18 thanks to wonderful accuracy and consistency, and at that moment it seemed that Lee might be wobbling mentally.

But Lin unaccountably tried a clipped drop which fell too short and found the net, and that reduced the psychological pressure on his edgy opponent immensely.

Lee concluded that game with a squall of smashes and hurtled to a lead of 8-2 in the second game. It was then that Lin tried a few of his once-famous aerial bombardments, getting ceilingwards and levering the shuttle down more steeply.

But they were intermittent efforts, and gradually the match slipped back into its cagey patterns once Lin had got back on even terms.

From 17-all Lee made his final push. A disguised return and smash got him the lead again, an overhead drop got him to 19-17, and an amazing block winner from point blank range got him to match point which he converted when Lin was pressured into switching a net shot across court and narrowly wide.

"It didn't work out as well as I thought," said Lin. "I made more errors than usual."

The defeat means Lin failed to achieve a fifth All-England Open title, which would have been a unique achievement in the open era.

The next All-England, five months before the 2012 Olympics, will be his last before his retirement.