All-England Championships: Saina bows out, Lin in last four

Olympic champion Lin Dan scored a notable revenge over Jan Jorgensen, the third-seeded Dane, to reach the semi-finals of the All-England Open with a 10-21, 21-9, 21-15 win on Friday but Saina Nehwal was knocked out of the women’s event.

After turning the match round Lin got completely on top before Jorgensen injected a little late respectability into the score-line. Lin’s subtle manoeuvrings and softly masked disguises offered an indication of how much his preparations for the Olympics may already have raised his standard.

He is surely now the unofficial favourite for his sixth All-England title with both Chen Long, the titleholder, and Lee Chong Wei, the former world number one, both being beaten.

He next plays Chen’s conqueror, Xue Song, who played another fine match to cause an upset for the second successive day, overcoming Danish sixth seed Viktor Axelsen 21-19, 21-23, 21-11.

Saina exit Another notable exit was that of the second-seeded Saina, the former world number one and last year’s runner-up in the women’s singles.

She looked below her best during a 21-15, 21-6 loss to Tai Tzu Ying, the former Super Series finals winner, but this was not entirely surprising.

Saina had lost six of her seven previous matches against the Taiwanese player. “There are a lot of tournaments to come in which I can play well and it’s still a long time before the Olympics,” Saina said.

Tai has a semi-final against Wang Shixian, who beat compatriot Li Xuerui, the Olympic champion, 16-21, 21-18, 21-17.