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BIRMINGHAM, England: Tine Rasmussen, the former All-England champion whose career has been threatened by injury, served notice of her desire to regain the title by saving three match points to beat Lu Lan, the world champion, 16-21, 23-21, 21-11, and reach the semi-finals on Friday.
The victory brought memories of the Dane's triumph over the Chinese player in the 2008 final, but it looked as though it might be over when Rasmussen went 18-20 down in the second game, having lost the first.
It was in those moments that the 30-year-old unseeded player found the courage to survive, just as she had in last year's semi-finals from match point down against Jiang Yanjiao.
And having done so, it gave Rasmussen the inspiration to arrive earlier to meet the shuttle, to reduce the errors, and get the first telling blow into the rally a little more often.
"I was relying on my memories of two years ago," Rasmussen said, with a dazzling smile. "And I have not done that since my comeback in the semi-finals last year.
"I just feel at home here. Even though I made some stupid mistakes I just believe in myself here."
On the first match point Rasmussen produced a good overhead drop, which made Lu lift the shuttle wide, on the second she again got the shuttle tight to the net, inducing a lifting error, and on the third at 21-20 under pressure she found a superb backhand block which went for a down-the-line winner.
Asked how she had managed to save them, Rasmussen said: "I just let go. I was thinking to make her win her own point, and if I lost I would still not be angry because I did just the best I could do."
Instead in the final game she was as completely on top as she had been under the cosh early in the match, when she went 3-12 down and looked flimsy, careworn, and shackled.
It was hard to recognise Rasmussen as the same player when she was striding to victory in the third game, 5-1 and 10-2 up in no time, bristling with freshly re-discovered self-belief, fire in her eyes and quite unstoppable.
"It showed me that I play my best I always have a chance of winning," said Rasmussen, who plays Saina Nehwal, the seventh seeded Indian who won 21-8, 21-14 against Juliana Schenk of Germany.
It means a Chinese player cannot reach the final in the bottom half.
"I think it's nice it will not be a Chinese player," Rasmussen said. "We like the Chinese at their best, and showing emotions. But it's good to have Europeans in the semi-finals too."
Later there was another defeat for a leading Chinese player when Chen Jin, the men's third seed and the 2008 champion, was beaten 22-20, 19-21, 21-13 by Kenichi Tago, the dangerously improving young Japanese.
Chen had a three-point lead in the first game, but at 20-20 put a backhand jab wide and on game point made some brilliant defensive blocks before blocking one back into the net.
After that Tago often had the appearance of a man who thought he could win, covering the court at breakneck speed and producing some amazing reflex mid-court shots.
And even though Chen used his experience to sneak the second game, he was soon a long way behind in the third.
"I have not lost to him before, but he played a lot better this time," said Chen. "I was not at peak form. I was slow at the front and couldn't pick up speed. And when I lost a few points in a row I lost my focus." - AFP/de
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