Lin, Lee set up climax final at badminton worlds

Badminton top players Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei set up another climax final one year after their classic showdown in London, as the duo respectively won in the semifinals of Guangzhou world championships on Saturday.

Lin of China cruised past Vietnam's Nguyen Tien Minh in straight sets 21-17, 21-15, while Lee from Malaysia came from one set down to beat the Chinese third seed Du Pengyu 20-22, 21-12, 21-15.

Lee is hoping to break a jinx of straight losses against Lin, who beat him in the last two Olympic finals and the previous world championships final.

"My wife and my child will be my motivation to beat Lin," said Lee, 30, who became a father in April to son Kingston.

World No. 1 Lee met unexpected resistance from Du, who had a better start by building a 17-10 lead. Lee cut the deficit to 19-all using formidable attack. However the top seed still lost the first set 22-20 though he saved one set point.

Lee regrouped in the second set, urging to an 8-2 lead and never looked back. In the decider, gutsy Du put out a fight as the scoreline went point by point amid thunderous cheers and applause from the spectators in Tianhe Gymnasium. But Lee eventually denied Du's challenge.

Lin registered a relatively easy victory. "Super Dan" and his 30-year-old rival traded point for point at the start of the opening set, but the set started to go Lin's way after he sped up in attacking and eventually took it 21-17.

A more relaxed Lin went on to dominate the second set, taking it 21-15 as the Vietnamese lost his confidence and made more errors.

"Lee doesn't rest after last year's Olympics and his form has been good. I will do my best tomorrow," said Lin, who was on the sidelines for the past year to spend time with his family and entered the tournament with a wildcard.

In the women's singles, Olympic champion and top seed Li Xuerui of China was too good for South Korea's Bae Yeon Ju, winning in straight sets 21-5, 21-11 in just 31 minutes.

Indian hope PV Sindhu, who stunned home favorites Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian in the previous rounds, was stopped by fellow Thai Ratchanok Intanon, just 15 years old, 21-10, 21-13.

Four-time champions Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng was knocked out in the men' s doubles by Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan 21-19, 21-17.

The Indonesian sixth seeded pair face Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen in the final after the Danish pair overcame South Korea's Kim Ki Jung/Kim Sa Rang 21-23, 21-18, 21-18.

On women's part, reigning champions Yu Yang/Wang Xiaoli of China and South Korea's Eom Hye Won/Jang Ye Na will fight for the gold medal.