China's top seed Lin Dan beat Denmark's Kenneth Jonassen 15-10, 15-3 to reach the semifinals of the All England Open men's singles badminton championships on Friday.

 

The 22-year-old shuttler will in the semifinal play Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei who saved five consecutive match points to beat China's veteran Chen Hong 9-15,17-14, 15-2.

 

The other semifinal will be held between Peter Gade of Denmark and South Korea's Lee Hyun-II.

 

Chinese top two women players Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang put on unstoppable performance to reach the final four. Zhang beat Eriko Hirose of Japan 11-8, 11-6 while Xie eased past Germany's XuHuaiwen 11-2, 11-5.

 

In the semifinals, Zhang will meet Pi Hongyan of France and Xieis to play Dutch player Mia Audina Tjiptawan.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2006)