LEE Chong Wei once again proved his near invincibility on home soil and turned thousands of fans wild to clinch his fourth Malaysia Open title. Tine Rasmussen of Denmark stunned world champion Zhu Lin to win her second Super Series tournament in four months.

The first final of the day saw Denmark Open mixed doubles winners He Hanbin and Yu Yang against unseeded Koreans Lee Yong Dae and Lee Hyo Jung. Both teams were neck to neck in the first game until they reached 14-14 at which point the Chinese pulled ahead and never let their opponents catch up.

As the match progressed, rallies became shorter and the Chinese became as effective as their opponents were erratic. Both Lees lost their touch and pushed many shuttles out either by unforced error or due to He’s powerful smashes.

He and Yu easily found their way to the first step of the podium with a convicing 21-14, 21-15 win in their first ever appearance at the Malaysia Open.

One could feel the electricity in the air when Tine Rasmussen and Zhu Lin both walked out on court for the second final of the day. The tension was obvious as both players made a rather nervous start with shots out by a mile in badminton terms.

Alternating between exquisite trick shots and outright blunders, both players nevertheless gradually overcame their inconsistency and started displaying their entire repertoire of shots. The Danish player, however, made one too many trickshot to give game point to Zhu who then clinched the first set 21-18.

The crowd became the match’s third player in the second set and accompanied Rasmussen in her second-set comeback. Nerves got the best of Zhu Lin when she and coach Tian Bingyi started complaining about a line judge. The Chinese obviously lost her concentration and pushed two shuttles in the net at crucial moments at the end of set.

Danish coach Thomas Stuer Lauridsen understood the effect the crowd had on Tine and gestured at the fans to keep on supporting his player. This proved to be more than the Chinese could handle and the tall Dane jumped for joy after winning the rubber set 21-18.

“Now we know that the Chinese players are not unbeatable anymore. As for my win today, I definitely felt the crowd’s support and it’s an incredible place to win a tournament,” said the European player after her second Super Series win since September.

Coach Stuer Lauridsen concurred: “The crowd was so loud that Tine couldn’t even hear my instructions, which might have been a good thing,” added the Danish coach jokingly.

Crescendo had yet to peak with the blue ribbon event of the day between Lee Chong Wei and Lee Hyun Il of Korea in men’s singles. The Malaysian started strong in the first set and led all the way to a convincing 21-15 first set.

The wind was to turn in the second set when the Korean left-hander returned the favour, conceding only 11 points to his opponent. The third set was a repeat of the first and the Malaysian wonder never let his opponent catch up to him. Lee Chong Wei never wobbled again and earned his fourth Malaysia Open in a collective frenzy.

“I of course feel very good about this win, especially after the world championships disaster last August in this same stadium,” said the 2008 Malaysia Open champion in Malay after his victory.

“Li Mao (Lee Chong Wei’s former coach and currently coach for Korea) obviously told Lee Hyun Il what to do in order to beat me and it worked to perfection in the second set. Lee was much faster and I couldn’t counter his attacking play,” added the humble Malaysian player before catching his plane for Seoul.

The Korean shuttler had himself a lot to say after his first final in a major tournament since the 2006 All England. Asked whether he felt his Malaysia Open result could be considered as an official comeback, Lee replied: “For now, my goal is to be in the top 16 as my mind is set to go to the Olympics this year and this is a good way to achieve that goal. I was off the national team for a few months recently and it did me a world of good. Being on the team for 10 years made for a very strict life, it was almost like jail,” commented the finalist.

If China’s reshuffling of their women’s doubles team is any indication of things to come, fans might be in for a treat at the Beijing Olympics. Newly formed pair of Gao Ling and Zhao Tingting took one full hour to obtain two match points against compatriots Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen.

The last rallies were so exciting that even the umpire got caught in the action and could be seen smiling during the points. Second-seeded Yang and Zhang somehow survived and won 21-13, 16-21, 24-22.

In the last final of the tournament, 2003 world champions Jonas Rasmussen and Lars Passke of Denmark were up against reigning world champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia. It seemed a foregone conclusion in the first set as the Indonesians crushed the Europeans 21-10.

Despite trailing for most of the second set, the Danes managed to come back 22-20. The small crowd of Indonesian supporters finally got what they hoped for when Kido and Setiawan disposed of the Danes 21-18 in the decider.

Jonas Rasmussen nevertheless expressed his satisfaction after the game: “En route to the final, we’ve beaten the first, third and fifth seeds which is not bad at all. We just couldn’t add the second seeds to our list. The Indonesians played superbly when it mattered the most and all credit to them.”

The second leg of the Super Series will take place in Seoul, Korea on Tuesday. The tournament offers US$300,000 in total prize money.

Copyright © 2008 BWF.