?Badminton player Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia. (Xinhua File Photo/Lu Hanxin) |
The top seed Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia romped into the men's singles semifinals at the All England Open Badminton Championships after beating Thai player Boonsak Ponsana in straight games on Friday.
Lee, 28, only needed half an hour to send off the eighth seed Ponsana 21-15, 21-7, waiting for the winner between Dane veteran Peter Hoeg Gade and Chinese hopeful Chen Long.
"I didn't play very well," said the world No. 1 after the easy win. "I'm still struggling to find my best form,"
Lee defeated Gade in the semifinals and grabbed his first All England title last year. The defending champion said China's top shuttler Lin Dan was his biggest rival as always.
The Olympic and four-time world champion Lin is going to fight a semifinal berth later.
Marc Zwiebler, turns 27 on Sunday, knocked out Japanese Kazushi Yamada 21-18, 17-21 and 21-15 to advance into the semifinals.
The German top player unheraldedly beat reigning world champion Chen Jin in the quarterfinals on Thursday.