BIRMINGHAM - Peter Gade's badminton dream of a second All England men's singles title 11 years after his first triumph ended in disappointment when he lost to world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the semifinals at the National Indoor Arena on Saturday.
The 33-year-old Dane played brilliantly to repeat his 1999 final win over Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat in their thrilling, 81-minute quarter-final on Friday. But he could not quite reproduce that form when he went down 21-17, 21-14 to Chong Wei, who is one win away from his first All England title in the 100th edition of the world's oldest Open championships.
Victory in Sunday's final would give him a third Super Series title in a row after wins in South Korea and Malaysia in January. It would also be his 12th major Open title.
"Gade was a bit slow after his tough match yesterday. I can recover faster," Chong Wei said. "It is important for me to play well in the 100th championships - for Malaysia. It is seven years since we last won."
Chong Wei expected Bao Chunlai to win the second semifinal but Japan's Kenichi Tago, who came through qualifying, surprised him 18-21, 22-20, 21-18 to become the first Japanese man to reach the final since 1966.
Tago's coach, South Korean Park Joo Bong, reminded him of the fact before going on court. He was already well aware that his mother, Yoshiko Yonekura , was an All England women's doubles runner-up in 1978.
Bao had the chance to win in straight games but the tall left-hander fired down a smash just the wrong side of the line. Then, like Gade, the grueling quarterfinal win over Lin Dan took its toll.
"The second set was hard but I could have played better," Bao said.
Coach Li Yongbo summed it up: "He made errors at crucial points."
Denmark was still in strong contention for the women's singles title as 2008 champion and 2009 runner-up Tine Rasmussen, who was unseeded, defeated seventh-seeded Saina Nehwal of India 21-19, 21-17.
Barring Rasmussen's path to the title is defending champion and top-seeded Wang Yihan, who defeated Chinese teammate and fifth-seeded Wang Xin 21-17, 26-24 on her second match point after saving four game points from 19-14 down.
In last year's final, Rasmussen lost to Wang 21-19, 21-23, 21-11.
"Not being seeded has helped (this year)," Rasmussen said. "I felt good and I haven't been nervous. I am enjoying my game at the moment. If I lose, I lose, that's that but I have a lot of confidence."
She proved that by saving three match points before beating sixth-seeded Lu Lan in the quarter-finals.
Wang wasn't underestimating Rasmussen just because she wasn't seeded.
"The seeding does not reflect the player's ability," Wang said. "She has played well and the final will be tough. I am playing tougher opponents nowadays and so I need to improve a lot. I know the final will be difficult."
The resurgent Danes also ended China's hopes of repeating their 'grand slam' of all five titles when fourth-seeded Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen defeated seventh-seeded Guo Zhendong and Xu Chen 21-16, 21-16 in the men's doubles semifinals.
The Danes celebrated by throwing their shirts into the crowd but their final opponents produced an even wilder celebration. Countrymen Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen, 2003 world champions here in this arena, hurled their rackets into the crowd after a gripping victory over Indonesia's Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan 14-21, 21-13, 23-21 on their third match point.
It will be the first all-Danish men's doubles final at the All England since 1967, and their performances this year have provided encouragement and optimism for England, who this week announced that Denmark coach Kenneth Jonassen will be joining them in July.