Wang Yihan one step away from world title

Updated: 2011-08-14 09:55

(Xinhua)

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LONDON - Chinese shuttler Wang Yihan needs one more victory to clinch her maiden world title as the second seed defeated teammate Wang Xin in the women's singles semifinals at the Badminton World Championships here on Saturday.

Wang, 23, only managed to win one match at both World Championships in 2009 and 2010, making breakthrough at Wembley Arena as she knocked out last year's runnerup Wang Xin 21-14, 21-15.

"I think both of us performed quite well today," said the former world No.1. "We played a lot long rallies and I just focused on finding chances during the rallies. I'm not afraid of her game. I tried my best to save every ball. "Actually I was already quite happy for reaching the semifinals, so I didn't think too much about the result."

Wang suffered a downturn after losing the first match in the Uber Cup final against South Korea last year while China finally failed to grab the trophy for the seventh time in a row.

"Since the defeat at Uber Cup, I couldn't find my form in quite a long time," said Wang. "Whenever I played, the defeat kept hanging on my mind. Thanks to the comfort from my coaches and friends, I feel much better now."

In the final, Wang will meet Chinese Taipei player Cheng Shao Chieh who eliminated Germany's ninth seed Juliane Schenk in the other semifinal.