Rasmussen prevents Asian clean sweep

BIRMINGHAM, England: Denmark's Tine Rasmussen prevented an Asian clean sweep of the All England titles with a deciding game victory over China's Lu Lan in the women's singles final Sunday in Birmingham.

The unseeded player, who spent a long time out with a ruptured Achilles in 2005, became the first non-Chinese winner since her fellow Dane Camilla Martin six years ago with a 21-11, 18-21, 22-20 victory over Lu, the No 3 seed.

Martin, back home in Denmark, was one of the first to get in touch with words of congratulation. "I've just got a text from Camilla," revealed Rasmussen. "It says 'welcome to the club'."

For Rasmussen, it was a dream come true.

"The All England is one of the most prestigious titles," she said. "And I feel I have made my little bit of history. It was a very tough final, and I was very nervous. But I knew I could win if I took my chances."

On claiming victory, an emotional Rasmussen rushed from the court and hugged her boyfriend and Danish team physiotherapist, Martin Baum, before finally returning to shake hands with Lu.

"Martin has bought some champagne. We are going to have a great celebration tonight," she added.

It was a final of swinging fortunes. Rasmussen, who had never got beyond the last 16 in eight previous All England Championships, easily won the first game and looked set for a relatively straightforward victory when she forged 14-11 ahead in the second.

But Lu, winner of the Denmark Open in October, hit back to take seven points in a row and level the score at one game all.

In the nervy decider, Rasmussen gained the early upper hand, moving 10-3 and then 11-7 in front. But again Lu battled back and led 14-15 before the 28-year-old regained her composure and went on to take the title on her third match point.

Afterwards, Rasmussen acknowledged an umpire overrule in her favor was a crucial moment. At 12-13 behind, the line judge called one of Lu's shots as in before the umpire deemed it out to make the score 13 all.

"The shot was definitely out, but if it had gone her way and I had fallen two points behind it could have been a different outcome," she said.

The victory continued a good run of recent results for Rasmussen, the world No 9. This is her third Super Series triumph in six months following wins in the Japan Open last September and the Malaysian Open in January.

She is now certain to rise to at least No 7 in the world, and she hopes to stay in the top eight in the run-up to the Olympic Games in Beijing in August. "There are still a lot of tournaments but, of course, I am focusing on the Olympics. I now hope to be one of the eight seeds," she said.

Earlier, hampered by a knee injury, China's defending champion Lin Dan failed in his bid for a fourth All England men's singles title when he suffered a shock straight-games defeat from compatriot Chen Jin.

Chen, the world No 4, had never beaten world No 1 Lin in six previous meetings, but he completed the championship without dropping a game with a 22-20, 25-23 victory.

China's Gao Ling won her 11th All England title - six women's doubles and five mixed - with a three-game victory in the mixed doubles final. Gao and Zheng Bo beat Indonesia's Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir 18-21, 21-14, 21-9 to claim the championship for the third successive year.

AFP

(China Daily 03/11/2008 page24)