World No. 1 Lin Dan of China moved closer to his first Asian Badminton Championship singles crown, beating South Korea's Lee Hyun-il 21-12, 21-10 in a quarterfinal match Friday. Lin will meet compatriot Chen Jin, the No. 4 seed, in Saturday's semifinal. Chen beat Malaysia's Wong Choon Hann 21-11, 21-18 in another quarterfinal match. “The way he (Lin) is playing, I doubt there is anyone left in the tournament who can take him on,” said Malaysian singles coach Misbun Sidek. “His performance so far has proved that he is ready, mentally and physically, to win the title. He had a few anxious moments in his earlier matches but he survived and that's a sign that he is very focussed,” he said. The other semifinal will pit Indonesia's Sony Dwi Cuncoro against South Korea's Park Sung-hwan. Three-time tournament winner Sony beat Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia 21-16, 21-17 while Park, the No. 7 seed, beat Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana 17-21, 23-21, 21-17 in the other two quarterfinal matches. The women's singles semifinals will see 2006 champion Wang Chen of Hong Kong square off against China's Jiang Yanjio, while teammate Yip Pui Yin, seeded No. 3, will play Wang Lin of China. Wang Chen beat Japan's Kaori Imabeppu 21-13, 21-9 in their quarterfinal clash while Yip defeated another Japanese, Yu Hirayama, 22-20, 21-8. Wang Lin beat Wong Mew Choo, the No. 2 seed from Malaysia, 21-19, 21-14. Jiang took care of the third Japanese to reach the last eight, Ai Goto, 21-15, 21-6. Mew Choo was the pre-match favorite, but on the court it was the left-handed Wang Lin who was in control as she kept her Malaysian opponent pinned on the back court for long periods before seeing off her challenge in straight games. The world champion pair of Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia also made it to the last four in the mixed doubles after their win over the Chinese pair of Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen 21-18, 18-21, 21
