Chinese badminton players advance to three finals at All England Open

Chinese players qualified for the men's singles, women's singles, and mixed doubles finals at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) All England Open in Birmingham, England, after picking up victories in Saturday's semifinals.

World No. 1 Shi Yuqi defeated Li Shifeng 21-9, 20-22, 21-19 in the men's singles semifinals. Shi claimed the opener comfortably, but had to go through tough battles in the next two games, including exchanging 62 shots with his Chinese compatriot in the longest rally so far at this year's tournament. Li pulled back the second game, but ultimately bowed out in the decider.

Shi will face Lee Chia-hao of Chinese Taipei in the final. Lee came back to knock out Alex Lanier of France 19-21, 21-14, 21-17 in the other last four contest.

Wang Zhiyi and Han Yue faced off in another all-Chinese clash in the women's singles semifinals. Wang outperformed Han 21-10, 21-19 for a spot in the final, where she will meet South Korean top seed An Se-young for the title.

The mixed doubles championship is guaranteed to go to a Chinese pair after Feng Yanzhe and Wei Yaxin defeated Lee Jong-Min and Chae Yoo-jung of South Korea 21-14, 21-18 in one semifinal, while Guo Xinwa and Chen Fanghui eliminated Jiang Zhenbang and Huang Dongping 21-15, 24-26, 21-16 on the other side of the bracket.

South Korea's Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae beat China's He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu in straight games 16-21, 21-13, 21-13 in the men's doubles semifinals. Bagas Maulana and Leo Rolly Carnando await in the final after knocking out Indonesian compatriots Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Muhammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani 21-14, 17-21, 21-15.

The women's doubles final will feature two Japanese pairs when Chiharu Shida and Nami Matsuyama take on Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto. Shida and Matsuyama beat Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning of China 21-9, 21-17. Fukushima and Matsumoto knocked out another Chinese pair, Jia Yifan and Zhang Shuxia, 21-16, 21-17.