Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia outclassed Park Sung hwan of South Korea 21-10, 22-20 Saturday to reach the final of the badminton world championships. The 2004 Olympic champion will chase a second world title against Chen Jin of China, who overcame European champion Peter Gade of Denmark 19-21, 21-8, 21-11. In women's singles, Lin Wang of China routed Tine Baun of Denmark 21-11, 21-8 to guarantee her country a gold medal, since she will play Wang Xin, who edged fellow Chinese Wang Shixian 21-19, 11-21, 21-16. Park suddenly became a dark horse in the title race after knocking out defending champion Lin Dan of China in the quarterfinals, but the 16th-ranked South Korean suffered his eighth loss in as many matches against Hidayat. “Taufik was the better player,” Park said. “He knows how to control the game. I just made too many unforced errors. For some reason, I felt too much pressure.” Hidayat hit 16 net winners and seven clear winners. The Indonesian magician hypnotized a crowd that kept chanting “Taufik, Taufik” and gave him a standing ovation after the match. Hidayat was nearly flawless in the first set, showing quick hands at the net, firing smashes into the corners, and hitting his signature backhand clears from the rearcourt. “Yesterday I was talking to my coach: ‘if Park wins, I can smile. But if Lin Dan wins, I'm just like quiet,' because I never win against Lin Dan,” Hidayat said in explaining his strong confidence on court. Lin Dan leads 7-3 against Hidayat and won their last six matches. Park raised his game in the second set, finding the line with a jump smash, but Hidayat saved two set points before converting his first match point on a stroke from Park that sailed long. “When it was 20-18, I was just waiting to get that one point,” Park said, “but the pressure was on me, not Taufik.” Hidayat won his first world title in 2005 in Anaheim, United States. The 2009 runner-up Chen has stood for years in the shadow of fellow Chinese and three-time world champion Lin Dan but said he felt no pressure for Sunday's final. “I won the silver medal last year,” Chen said. “I've already accomplished my mission since I've advanced to the final.” Gade won six straight points to lead 15-8 in the first set. The Dane hit a jump smash clocked at 247 kilometers per hour to get five set points. Chen saved four of them but could not retrieve another smash from Gade at 20-19. “I played very fast in the first set,” said the 33-year-old Gade. “But it's difficult for me to keep the speed on.”
