Lin Dan`s revenge takes him into All-England semi-finals

London: 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 championships with an ominously brilliant 10-21, 21-9, 21-15 win.

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 - the product of clever tactical insights - as well as the margin of the success offered an indication of how much Lin`s preparations for the Olympics in Rio in August may already have raised his standard.

It was was atonement for a loss to Jorgensen in the world championships quarter-finals in Jakarta seven months ago, when Lin was well beaten in straight games. 

This time, after just a few points of the second game, there was little doubt that he would prevail.

"I took time to analyse Jorgensen`s game after that defeat," Lin said. 

"I tried to find better ways of beating him. I really like the way he plays - it`s aggressive and he can apply a lot of pressure - but this was a good experience for me after the first game."

It also suggested that even at the age of 32 and despite very few tournament titles in the past three years, Lin may well be good enough to challenge for a third Olympic gold.

"I`m no longer young, but I still enjoy the competition, and the feeling of that," he said. "I`m really excited with the win."

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

Though ranked as low as 30 Xue has here been playing to a top ten standard, applying steady pressure, keeping a cool head, and attributing his good mental state to watching American horror movies.

"I`m really happy to play my teammate," said Lin. "It will be a different feeling altogether."Another notable exit was that of the second-seeded Saina Nehwal, 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.

Nehwal had lost six of her seven previous matches against the Taiwanese player, and is only just finding her way back after a lengthy injury break.

"There are a lot of tournaments to come in which I can play well and it`s still a long time before the Olympics," Nehwal said.

"I don`t really think this is a surprise," said Tai. "I`ve done well against her before."

She has a semi-final against Wang Shixian, the former All-England champion from China, who beat compatriot Li Xuerui, the Olympic champion, 16-21, 21-18, 21-17 with a surge which won he the last four points.

Unlike Nehwal, the top-seeded Carolina Marin overcame a jinx opponent, ending a sequence of four losses in four matches against Ratchanok Intanon.

The top-seeded titleholder from Spain beat the former world champion from Thailand 21-27, 21-19, finding ways to prevent her talented opponent from imposing sudden ambushes and changes of direction on the rallies.

"I think this is my best match so far - I spent a lot of time preparing for it," said Marin. "I`m very happy with my performance and I really want to win this title."