Shi Yuqi’s only All England title came in 2018, but he is the favourite to claim a second against Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao on Sunday. (EPA Images pic)
LONDON: Top seed Shi Yuqi edged a thrilling semifinal against Chinese compatriot Li Shifeng 21-9, 20-22, 21-19 to reach a fourth All England Open final on Saturday.
The world No 1 was pushed all the way by Li, who recovered from a dominant opening game from Shi to threaten an upset.
Shi’s only previous All England success came back in 2018, but he is a big favourite to land a second title on Sunday against Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao.
“We both made some mistakes, so it was about the finer points today,” said Shi. “We needed a lot of patience. It wasn’t about tactics, just about avoiding mistakes.”
Lee continued his fairytale run with a 19-21, 21-14, 21-17 victory over in-form Frenchman Alex Lanier.
“The victory hasn’t sunk in yet – I didn’t expect that I would do this well,” said the world No 22. “I’m so surprised by the result myself.”
The world No 1 is also into the women’s final as South Korea’s An Se-young proved too strong for two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi.
An, winner of the All England Open two years ago, cruised through 21-12, 21-17 to maintain her record of dropping just one game all week.
She will face Wang Zhiyi after she won an all-Chinese semifinal over Han Yue 21-10, 21-19.
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