Lee, Lin enjoy routine wins at world championships

Defeat Vittinghus, Zhengming respectively in third-round clashes.

JAKARTA: Arch-rivals Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan remained on course for a blockbuster men’s singles semi-final showdown at the world championships when they enjoyed routine third-round victories on Thursday.

Chinese fifth seed Lin crushed Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21-9, 21-13 while Malaysia’s Lee was given a more thorough test by Wang Zhengming in his 21-17, 21-19 victory.

Nearing the end of glittering careers that have seen them dominate the sport for almost a decade, Lee has been impressive since his return from a doping ban but will be all too aware that nemesis Lin blocks his path to glory once more.

Lin has captured every major honour and will be confident of clinching a sixth global crown on Sunday before embarking on a search for a third straight Olympic title ahead of retirement. He has beaten Lee in four of those major finals.

On the other side of the draw, Chinese top seed and defending champion Chen Long put on a supreme display of court coverage with a 21-17, 21-18 victory over unseeded Thai Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk to book his place in the quarter-finals.

Fourth seed Kento Momota of Japan also advanced with a 21-15, 21-16 win over Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh and second seeded Dane Jan Ø Jørgensen beat Korea’s Son Wan-ho 21-19, 21-11 to set up a last-eight encounter against Lin.

Earlier, India’s PV Sindhu caused the first major upset in either of the singles draws when the 20-year-old stunned Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China 21-17, 14-21, 21-17.

There was also a hint of another upset in the same half of the draw when top seed and defending champion Carolina Marin dropped the second game of her match against Taiwan’s Pai Yu-po but the injury-prone Spaniard dug deep to advance 21-11, 18-21, 21-17. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th,  2015.

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