BIRMINGHAM (England), March 9: World champion Lin Dan of China reached the All England Badminton Championships final for the fifth year in succession on Saturday with a comfortable 21-14, 21-14 victory over compatriot Bao Chunlai.

His opponent on Sunday will be another Chinese, fourth seed Chen Jin who beat second seed and former world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 21-18, 21-18.

Top-seeded Lin, winner in 2004, 2006 and 2007, produced a devastating spell from midway in the first game, when he trailed 14-12, to capture 10 points in succession and take control.

Bao, seeded three, managed to pull back from 9-2 down in the second to a more respectable 12-6 down but Lin eased home.

The Chinese has put behind him unruly scenes in the final in January of the Korean Open where court officials struggled to restore order after scuffles over a series of disputed line calls in his match with home favourite Lee Hyun-il.

Badminton World Federation officials, alarmed by the bust-up in Seoul, are considering whether to bring in the camera technology used in cricket and tennis.

Chen, winner of last year’s Swiss Open, will be making his first All England final appearance after ousting the in-form Lee.

The Malaysian had started favourite after beating Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Lee made the early running but lost the advantage midway through the first game and struggled after that. He managed to save three match points from 20-15 down in the second game but finally succumbed to a powerful Chen smash.

In the women’s final, third seed Lu Lan will fly the flag for China after beating seventh seeded Xu Huaiwen of Germany 21-13, 21-14.

She will meet Tine Rasmussen of Denmark, who beat world champion Zhu Lin earlier in the week, and on Saturday accounted for South Korea’s Hwang Hye-youn 21-17, 21-18.

In the mixed doubles, there was disappointment for the home crowd when Olympic silver medallists Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms produced a sub-standard display and lost 21-18, 21-15 to second seeds Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia.

Emms is set to retire after the Beijing Olympics and was playing in her last All Englands.

Semi-final results on Saturday (prefix denotes seeding)

Men’s singles: 1-Lin Dan (China) bt 3-Bao Chunlai (China) 21-14, 21-14; 4-Chen Jin (China) bt 2-Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) 21-18, 21-18.

Women’s singles: 3-Lu Lan (China) bt 7-Xu Huaiwen (Germany) 21-13, 21-14; Tine Rasmussen (Denmark) bt Hwang Hye-youn (South Korea) 21-17, 21-18.

Men’s doubles: Hwang Ji-man/Lee Jae-jin (South Korea) bt Shintaro Ikeda/Shuichi Sakamoto (Japan) 21-16, 21-16; 6-Jung Jae-sung/Lee Yong-dae (South Korea) bt 4-Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah (Malaysia) 21-23, 22-24, 23-21.

Women’s doubles: 3-Du Jing/Yu Yang (China) bt 1-Wei Yili/Zhang Jawen (China) 21-16, 21-9; 4-Lee Hyo-jung/Lee Kyung-won (South Korea) bt 2-Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen (China) 13-21, 21-13, 21-19.

Mixed doubles: 1-Zheng Bo/Gao Lin (China) bt 4-Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen (China) 16-21, 21-6, 0-0 – Xie retired with back injury; 2-Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir (Indonesia) bt 8-Nathan Robertson/Gail Emms (England) 21-18, 21-15.—Reuters