Chong Wei continues perfect record, ends Chen Long’s streak

Lee Chong Wei kept up his perfect record of reaching the final of every Open tournament he has played in this year when he defeated new world No. 2 Chen Long in three games in the semi-finals of the US$200,000 Yonex French Open on Saturday.

World No. 1 Chong Wei (right), who has won six titles this year, had lost his last two matches to the former world junior champion – in the finals of the Japan and Denmark Opens.
Chen Long, who also won the China Masters last month, was hoping to become the first player – male or female – to win four consecutive OSIM BWF World Superseries tournaments.
Following his win in Odense last Sunday, Chen Long overtook teammate Lin Dan at No. 2 in the world rankings and had set his eyes on Chong Wei’s top spot.
He entered the semi-finals the fresher of the duo, having received a walkover from teammate Wang Zhengming and was buzzing with confidence.
Chong Wei, on the other hand, faced the prospect of going down to the 22-year-old for the third consecutive time.
He survived three game points in the opening game before pulling off a 23-21 victory. Chen Long levelled the match when he took control of the second game to win 21-17.
The decider belonged to Chong Wei, who dominated the front of the court, scoring 13 winners with his neat flicks and drops.
After 77 minutes, the Malaysia emerged with a precious 22-21, 17-21, 21-15 victory which cemented his position as the No. 1 shuttler in the world.
He will meet Japan’s Kenichi Tago, who was the latest lucky recipient of an injury to four-time world champion Lin Dan.
The Chinese ace retired from their semi-final match with another injury despite leading 25-23, 18-15.
In the men’s doubles, four-time world champions Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng (left), will meet archrivals Jung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae for the 18^th time in their careers.
The South Koreans have upset the world No. 1s in the finals of the China Masters and Denmark Open and now lead their head-to-heads 9-8.
They booked their place in Sunday’s final by defeating defending champions Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen with identical 21-17 scores in the first and second games.
The Danish pair were the last of the five defending champions still in contention and their defeat means there will be new champions in each of the five categories at the 10^th OSIM BWF World Superseries tournament of the year.
Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng reached the title decider when they overcame a determined Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata in three games.
The unseeded Japanese duo, who won the India Open in May, gave it their best shot against their more fancied opponents but could not last the pace and lost 21-11, 13-21, 21-9.
Denmark Open champions Joachim Fischer Nielsen-Christinna Pedersen (right), of stayed on course to win back-to-back mixed doubles Superseries tournaments when they defeated world champions Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei in a nail-biting semi-final.
The Danes, who defeated the world No. 1s in the semi-finals of last week’s Denmark Open, saved a match point before maintaining their unbeaten record against the Chinese in four meetings, winning 21-14, 22-24, 22-20 in 72 minutes.
Waiting for them in the final are world No. 2s Xu Chen-Ma Jin, who edged Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir in three games. It will be a repeat of last week’s final which the Danes won in straight games.
Tontowi-Liliyana have lost their way after a stunning period in May and June which saw them win Superseries titles in India and Singapore as well as a Grand Prix Gold event in Malaysia.
They have yet to reach such highs since then and it was left to the Chinese superstars to end their hopes of another final appearance with a 16-21, 21-14, 21-11 victory