It was semifinal day at the 2012 Yonex Australian Badminton Open, and it was a dirty day for Japan, where all seven semifinalists players and pairs were knocked out of the tournament. In particular, men’s doubles pair and seventh seeds, Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa, were denied of their title hat trick, being knocked out by the pair from Chinese Taipei.

Defending men’s singles champion, Sho Sasaki of Japan, was knocked out by 2010 winner, Tinh Mien Nguyen, who will face top seed, Chen Jin in the final. In the women’s singles, world number 92, Han Li of China, who had to play the qualifiers to make the main draw, continues to plough through to make the women’s single final.

The Seeds & Key Match Ups

Simon Santoso (3) (INA) vs Chen Jin (1) (CHN)

The hour-long final match of the day did not disappoint. Indonesia's Simon Santoso could not have played better, and funnily enough a patchy performance from 2010 world champion Chen Jin, was enough to secure the crucial first set, 22-20.

A couple of Santoso's jumps smashes at the business end of the first set, were met with the stadium lights in his eyes, which led to a few crucial mis-hits. Up to then he was clearly to the audience, the one holding the upper hand. His shot making was sharper and his strategy more decisive and he was the more assertive smasher.

Starting afresh on the new side Santoso accelerated to the early lead again, but Chen Jin was warm by now and the sweetness on his smash was finding its range. A couple more unlucky moments for Santoso and the umpire refusing his requests to change the shuttle or have the floor wiped dejected him, and Chen took advantage of his opponents loss of focus to seal the deal on the second set, 21-15.

Sung Ji Hyun (3) (KOR) VS Han Li (CHN)

An in-form Han Li of China dominated Sung Ji Hyun in the ladies singles, and avenged the loss she suffered at the Korean's racquet last year at the Korea Hwasun Grand Prix Gold, 21-15, 21-12.

The deciding factor was Sung's inability today to find her touch on net shots because they were both fine trading and retrieving power shots with each other.

Han Li led from the first set interval as Sung tried to play herself into the match. A half set's worth of practice was not enough and Sung continued to lag. Han Li simply executed more of the same quality that she has been exhibiting since the competition started, and the match over the tournament's highest seed was finally hers.

Luo Ying/ Luo Yu (CHN) vs Shizuka Matsuo/ Mami Naito (2) (KOR)

The Chinese twins also rose to the occasion on semi finals Saturday to defeat Japanese opponents, who they lost to the last time they met, 21-16, 21-15.

Ranked 48 and once as high as 38 in the world, the Luo twins took the game to their top 10 ranked adversaries from the get go. Classic modern women's doubles ensued, the length and breath of the entire court was used with good defence from all four players, but it was the equal smash power of the both Chinese ladies that made helped them break clear of the defending champions to lead the rest of the way in both sets.

"We're happy to play international tournaments. We hope we keep being sent," chuffed the likable Chinese pair post match.

Hiroyuki Endo/ Kenichi Hayakawa (7) (JPN) vs Fang Chieh Min/ Lee Sheng Mu (3) (TPE)

Again the twice-defending champions went down in straight sets to the players from Chinese Taipei, who beat them only a fortnight ago in Switzerland. 21-10, 22-20.

Fang and Lee were superior in all respects in the first set while Endo and Hayakawa's attacks were hardly gaining penetration.

The Japanese regrouped with brand new vigor in the second set to deliver entertainment worthy of everyone's attention. They equaled Fang and Lee, however, a late lapse in concentration and last second judgment on taking a shot falling near the lines swapped the lead over. Endo and Hayakawa re-equalised at 20, but winning five points in a row was too much to ask against the currently superior skilled Fang and Lee.

Kenichi Hayakawa / Misaki Matsutomo (JPN) vs Chen Hung Ling / Cheng Wen Hsing (2) (TPE)

Both Japan's hefty Kenichi Hayakawa and the indefatigable Cheng Wen Hsing of Chinese Taipei had double duty today and were back on court this time facing each other.

The Japanese claimed the first set 21-18, with Hayakawa making his presence felt throughout.

Chen and Cheng had been playing well all along, and the second set, it happened to be their turn to bound ahead slightly. It turned tense when Hayakawa and Matsutomo made a late bid to try and take in straight sets, and that is when Cheng Wen Hsing held her nerve when fending off the Japanese male's smashes to win 21-19.

The deciding set was a write off for the Japanese because they suffered a bump early on and the minor injury reduced them from their best.

Fastest Smash

The speed guns were out in action today and it was top men’s singles seed, Chen Jin, who recorded the fastest smash of the day at 277kph, with second seed Sho Sasaki registering 267kph.

Next Up?

It’s finals day and for each discipline which will be played in front of the packed crowd at the Sydney Exhibition and Convention Centre. Matches commence at 2pm with the following order of play:

XD Peng Soon Chan/ Liu Ying Goh (3) (MAS) vs Hung Ling Chen/ Wen Hsing Cheng (2) (TPE)
WS Bae Youn Joo (5) (KOR) vs Li Han (CHN)
MD Chieh Min Fang/ Sheng Mu Lee (3) (TPE) vs Markis Kido/ Hendra Setiawan (6) (INA)
WD Wen Hsing Cheng/ Yu Chin Chien (TPE) vs Ying Luo/ Yu Luo (CHN)
MS Chen Jin (1) (CHN) vs Tien Minh Nguyen (4) (VIE)

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