World number one Lin Dan could not hide his delight after crushing his arch-rival, Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, in the Hong Kong Open quarter-finals.

While Hidayat sat slumped in disbelief at the back of the court, a jubilant "Super Dan" held court with reporters and posed for photographs with fans.

"This was one of my best games," beamed the Chinese star. "I haven't been in such good touch since I won the world championship.

"I had a great feeling, I was really into the game. I'm not even tired because I'm so excited."

Lin flew to a one-game lead and then clawed back a seven-point deficit in the second to win 21-12, 21-14, underlining his dominance of the unpredictable Indonesian.

Hidayat, now ranked sixth, has not beaten the confident Chinese since the 2005 world championship final and has a 3-6 record in their official head-to-heads.

Apart from berating one line judge, it was a subdued performance from the two-time Asian Games champion, who stormed out of last year's match against Lin to protest a disputed call.

That was one of a long line of shocking incidents involving badminton's bad boy, including attacking a fan in 2001, an alleged carpark brawl in 2004 and a furious verbal spat with Lin last December.

Hidayat missed much of last season with injury and has won only the Asian championships this year. He appeared here, mainly to retain his top-eight seeding, a mellower character after the birth of his first child in August.

But Indonesia's biggest sports star will need far better preparation if he is to retain his Olympic title next year, lacking fitness and caving under pressure as he tamely surrendered his big second-game lead.

Lin meanwhile was confident enough to start celebrating early, hurling a broken racquet into the crowd midway through the first game.

"I lost my concentration in the second and went behind, but I kept my focus and I did a great job to come back," he enthused.

"Taufik wanted this too so it was a good win for me."

The long-time world number one and current world champion was due to face fellow Chinese Chen Jin in the semi-finals later, while Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei plays Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark.

The 250,000-dollar Hong Kong Open is the last leg of badminton's inaugural Super Series. Badminton chiefs are scrambling to save a planned Masters Final after organisers in Qatar were unable to find sponsors.

Copyright © 2007 AFP