Top seed Lin Dan saved one match point to beat Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei 15-9, 10-15, 17-14 in a nerve-wrecking and gripping semifinal at the All England Open on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Chinese shuttler will meet in the final South Korea's Lee Hyun-II who beat Peter Gade of Denmark 3-15, 15-8, 15-1 in the other semifinal.

Lin was nearly pushed to the end when he trailed Lee 6-13 in the third set, but he managed to come back with a heroic display winning 11 points while conceding only one.

"I am not happy with my performance as I should have won the second set. It was very hard when I was 6-13 behind. When I made it 10-13 I felt better and I thought I could win."

Lee was happy with the fact that he could make Lin fight hard. "Last time I lost to Lin Dan I did not put up a fight so I am very pleased that I fought hard today."

"I am very tired and I have cramp in my leg. I found it hard in the third game. I tried to keep it moving but it did mean I had to slow down," he added.

In the women's single final, top seed Zhang Ning will meet her Chinese teammate second seed Xie Xingfang after holding off France's Pi Hongyan 11-3, 9-11, 11-3.

Xie fought from one game behind to beat Dutch veteran Mia Audina Tjiptawan 11-13, 11-0, 11-7.

(Xinhua News Agency January 22, 2006)