Lin, Li reign supreme

Lin Dan of China won his fifth All England title on Sunday when world number one Lee Chong Wei had to retire with a shoulder injury that had emerged over the last 24 hours.

The score stood at 21-19, 6-2 to Lin when the Malaysian had to call it a day.

There had been some doubt whether Chong Wei would even start the final but he appeared on time to the delight of a near capacity 8,000 crowd at the National Indoor Arena.

But he needed treatment 15 minutes into the match when trailing 15-12 and again at the break after the first game. Then it soon became clear early in the second set he could not carry on and the two men shook hands after 31 minutes.

Lin became the first man in the 33-year Open era to win five All Englands, adding to titles in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009.

In the post-war era, only Rudy Hartono, eight in the 1960s-70s, and Erland Kops, seven in the 1960s, have won the world's oldest tournament more, when it was regarded as the unofficial world championship.

Lin, the Olympic and world champion, told the crowd: “I hope the injury does not affect him too much and we can meet at the Olympics again.”

Women's world number one Wang Yihan suffered a stunning loss on Sunday in the women’s final, suffering a 21-13, 21-19 loss to seventh-seeded Chinese compatriot Li Xuerui.

It was by far the biggest win in the career of 21-year-old Li who was following up success in last week's German Open and is emerging swiftly as a major force in the game.

She controlled the first set but trailed 14-7 in the second only to level at 18-18 with some strokeplay of the highest order and then close out the contest in 45 minutes.

Wang could have done without her previous two games in the tournament both going to three sets and having to save four match points against Denmark's Tine Baun.

“This is my greatest win and it is very important to me,” Li said. “It's a famous title, and different from the other Super Series. I want to take it step by step but I may become world number four after this.”

“I felt confident about winning,” said Wang, who had won the All England Open title three years ago and the world title only seven months ago. “And I really hoped to be the winner.”

Results (all finals, prefix denotes seedings): Men’s singles: 2-Lin Dan (Chn) bt 1-Lee Chong Wei (Mal) 21-19, 6-2 (retd).

Doubles: 2-Jung Jae-sung/ Lee Yong-dae (Kor) bt 1-Cai Yun/ Fu Haifeng (Chn) 21-23, 21-9, 21-14.    

Women's singles: 7-Li Xuerui (Chn) bt 1-Wang Yihan (Chn) 21-13, 21-19.    
Doubles: 2-Tian Qing/ Zhao Yunlei (Chn) bt 1-Wang Xiaoli/ Yu Yang (Chn) 21-17, 21-12.  Mixed doubles: 4-Tontowi Ahmad/ Lilyana Natsir (Idn) bt 8-Thomas Laybourn/ Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Den) 21-17, 21-19.