Bao Chunlai, Chen Hong make China Open badminton semis

Bao Chunlai and Chen Hong outclassed their fellow Chinese to book the men's singles final tickets of the 250,000 US dollars China Open badminton championships in Guangzhou on Saturday.

Bao came over from one set down to oust world champion Lin Dan 18-21, 21-19, 21-10, while Chen Hong beat Chen Jin 14-21, 21-15, 21-17 for the final on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Bao demonstrated his strong mind when he was one set down and lagged behind 9-17 in the second. Yet, he didn't give up and caught up six points in a row en route to levelling the sets 21-19.

Lin Dan seemingly lost his confidence since then as he made many unforced errors in the third set while Bao played to his best.

In the women's singles semifinals, Zhang Ning, the Japan Open champion, thrashed Wang Chen from Hong Kong, China 21-13, 21-14 breezily.

The 32-year-old dominated the whole match throughout, and will play Yao Jie from the Netherlands in the final after Yao beat Mori Kaori of Japan 21-17, 21-19 in other semifinal.

Source: Xinhua