Top seed and defending champion Lin Dan of China reached the final of the world badminton championships for the third year in succession on Saturday with a 21-12, 22-20 victory over compatriot and fourth seed Bao Chunlai.
The semifinal match-up was a repeat of the last year's final in Madrid where Lin prevailed in three sets.

At 19-14 up in the second, Lin seemed home but the gallant Bao won six points in a row to go 20-19 ahead.

With a raucous crowd nearing 10,000 on the edge of their seats, Lin, champion that he is, produced a fine winner to level at 20-20 and clinched victory shortly afterwards.

In Sunday's final, he meets ninth-seeded Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who overcame China's sixth seed Chen Yu 18-21, 21-13, 21-15.

Earlier, women's number one seed Zhang Ning, world champion in 2003, suffered a shock semifinal exit when she was beaten 21-11, 21-15 by Hong Kong's sixth-seeded Chen Wang.

The Chinese had been heavily tipped to retain her crown after compatriot and title-holder Xie Xingfang was knocked out of the championships on Thursday.

She looked to be fighting her way back into Saturday's match when she led 11-4 in the second set only to subside to a rare defeat.

Wang, who has a good record against Chinese players, told reporters: "I tried to keep the game fast and it paid off."

Her opponent in Sunday's final will be fifth seed Zhu Lin who beat Chinese compatriot Lu Lan, seeded seventh, 21-10, 21-13.

Zhang was the latest big name casualty at the championships, headed by the defeat earlier in the week of men's Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat by unheralded Indian Anup Sridhar.

Results: (semifinals, prefix denotes seeding)
Men: Singles: 1-Lin Dan (Chi) bt 4-Bao Chunlai (Chi) 21-12, 22-20; 9-Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Ina) bt 6-Chen Yu (Chi) 18-21, 21-13, 21-15

Doubles: 3-Markis Kido/ Hendra Setiawan (Ina) bt 6-Tan Fook Choong/ Wan Wah Lee (Mal) 22-20, 28-26; 13-Jae Sung Jung/ Young Dae Lee (Kor) bt Shuichi Sakamoto/ Shintaro Ikeda (Jap) 21-16, 21-12.

Women: Singles: 6-Chen Wang (HK) bt 1-Zhang Ning (Chi) 21-11, 21-5; 5-Zhu Lin (Chi) bt 7-Lu Lan (China) 21-10, 21-13.

Doubles: 3-Wei Yang/ Jiewen Zhang (Chi) bt 1-Yawen Zhang/ Yili Wei (Chi) 19-21 21-18 21-16; 2-Ling Gao/ Sui Huang (Chi) bt 6-Kumiko Ogura/ Reiko Shiota (Jap) 21-16, 23-25, 21-6.

Mixed doubles:  2-Nova Widianto/ Lilyana Natsir (Ina) bt 3-Xie Zhongbo/ Zhang Yawen (Chi) 21-15, 15-21, 22-20; 1-Zheng Bo/ Gao Ling (Chi) bt 6-Flandy Limpele/ Vita Marissa (Ina) 17-21, 21-19, 21-19.