They began their matches at the same time, had similar scorelines and finished their matches just two seconds apart.

The magic of love, indeed.

China's top badminton couple Lin Dan and Xie Xingfang began their singles title quests in similar imperious fashion yesterday.

Both matches started minutes after 7pm, and both raced to early leads - Lin against Hong Kong's Ng Wei, and Xie against Belarus' Olga Konon.

The couple quickly finished their first games, both winning by 21-16.

In the second game, Lin got a little behind Xie at first, but caught up quickly.

They reached match points at the same time and wrapped up the match just two seconds apart, Lin taking out Ng 21-13 and Xie beating Konon 21-15.

While everyone at the courtside enjoyed this magic moment, Lin said he was too focused on his match to notice his girlfriend, who was practically meters away from him.

"No! No! I didn't know about her game," he waved away the question from reporters. "Oh, it was not us who drew up the schedule! Ask the technical staff," said Xie, laughing.

Even their answers were identical.