All England Open Badminton Championships 2022: As it happened - Day 4

Viktor Axelsen will play Lakshya Sen in the final of the All England Open Badminton Championships 2022 after ending proceedings in style on Saturday (19 March).

The Dane was at his attacking best against Chou Tien Chen and, apart from a lull at the start of the second game, looked in great form.

Lakshya beat defending champion Lee Zii Jia to reach his third final of the year as Yamaguchi Akane swept aside Chen Yufei to set up a women's final with An Seyoung.

Catch up on everything that happened in the BWF World Tour Super 1000 event on Saturday (latest news first).

Viktor Axelsen reaches fourth consecutive All England final

Viktor Axelsen roars into the final of the All England Open 21-13, 21-15 in 47 minutes.

Perhaps the Olympic champion Axelsen was taking a breather at the start of the second game because he really poured it on after the break when he trailed 11-6.

Having done so well to get back into the match, it was a little tame from Chou Tien Chen in the end as he struggled to live with Denmark's world number one.

Axelsen's reward is a quick rematch with India's in-form Lakshya Sen who beat him in last weekend's German Open semi-finals before going down in the final to Thailand's Kunlavit Vitidsarn.

Axelsen wins point of the match

Viktor Axelsen fights back after the break, attacking more like he did in the first game.

Then comes the point of the match - wonderful defence from Chou Tien Chen but Axelsen eventually comes out on top of a 69-shot rally with a superb cross-court shot to close the gap to 13-11.

Two points later, another spectacular rally with Chou this time converting miraculous defence into attack and going 14-12 up. But he can't get back an Axelsen smash on the next point and the gap is down to one again.

Chou making a fight of it in the second game

Both men misjudging the drift in this second game with a couple of shots easily dropping in.

Chou Tien Chen has stepped it up in this second game with Viktor Axelsen, not allowing the Dane to attack with as much intensity as in the first game.

But could this be another turning point? Axelsen shows superb defence before going on the offensive to close the gap to 8-6.

Not a bit of it - Chou wins the next three points, with a frustrated Axelsen resisting the temptation to smash his racket on the ground, to go 11-6 up into the break.

Axelsen takes first game 21-13

Chou Tien Chen made a brief comeback with two points in a row, but the power of Viktor Axelsen took over again.

From 18-13, the Dane reeled off three consecutive points - the last when Chou left a lift which dropped on the baseline - to take the opening game 21-13.

The Olympic champion is expending plenty of energy with his attacking gameplan, but it's paying off so far. Last week in the German Open semi-finals, he squandered a 16-9 advantage in the decider against Lakshya Sen with the Indian awaiting in Sunday's final.

And Chou has made a positive start to the second game, going into a 4-0 lead. Could he turn this around?

Axelsen racing to the first game

What a rally just after the break - 32 shots in all with Viktor Axelsen demonstrating great defence. Not even he could get back a cross-court angled drop shot from Chou Tien Chen but the Dane is soon back on top.

Accompanied by chants of 'Viktor! Viktor!' between points, the Olympic champion is winning the battle at the net and making his smashes count as soon as Chou fails to find the required distance on his lifts.

When Axelsen is in this mood, it's hard to see him being beaten. Five consecutive points saw him into an 18-11 lead, and Chou has a mountain to climb already.

Axelsen powering in front

Chou Tien Chen is defending stoutly but Viktor Axelsen's power is just too much.

A trademark smash was superbly returned by Chou early in the first game, but the Dane's commitment to attack is paying dividends so far.

Chou launched a good attack of his own to close the gap to 8-7, but he's missing the lines as he tries to keep Axelsen at bay and it's the Olympic champion who takes an 11-8 lead into the break.

Olympic champs Wang/Huang into mixed doubles final

Wang Yi Lyu and Huang Dong Ping repeated their Olympic final triumph over Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong in an exciting mixed doubles semi-final.

The Chinese pairs served up a treat for the crowd, but it was Wang and Huang who eventually came through 21-7, 13-21, 21-13.

They now face Japan's Olympic bronze medallists Watanabe Yuta and Higashino Arisa in Sunday's final.

One match to come on this Saturday night and it should be a good one - Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen against Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen.

The Dane has won 13 of their previous 15 meetings. If he can make it 14, he will face India's in-form Lakshya Sen in the final.

Zhang/Zheng through to women's doubles final

Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu made it through to the women's doubles final after surviving something of a scare

Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand, who only took their place in the tournament late having been on the reserve list and had plenty of support inside the Birmingham Arena, made a fight of it in both games.

At 9-9 in the second, a shot from Pullela came close to touching Zhang before landing. The umpire said it did not, but the Indian pair disputed the decision and seemed to lose their way momentarily.

They fought back after the interval to level at 14-14, but errors from the Indian side and Zhang's prowess from the back of the court saw the Chinese complete victory 21-17, 21-16.

They now face Japan's seventh seeds Matsuyama Nami and Shida Chiharu.

Zhang/Zheng draw first blood in second women's doubles semi

Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu look to be heading into the women's doubles final at the All England Open.

Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand, the daughter of Pullela Gopichand and P.V.V. Lakshimi, made a bright start to their semi-final, but the Chinese pair came back strongly to take the first game 21-17.

The winners will meet Japan's Matsuyama Nami and Shida Chiharu in Sunday's final.

Ahsan/Setiawan make it an all-Indonesian men's double final

Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan are through to the men's doubles final after beating China's He Ji Ting and Tan Qiang 21-16, 15-21, 21-13.

After dropping the second game, Ahsan and Setiawan made a blistering start to the decider by taking the first five points.

The Chinese were unable to respond, and a typically powerful smash from Setiawan saw the second seeds go through to the final.

There they will face fellow Indonesians Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana after they stunned world number ones Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.

Ahsan/Setiawan taken to decider

It looked like it might be a quick evening's work for Indonesia's men's doubles second seeds Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan as they took the first game 21-16 against He Ji Ting and Tan Qiang.

But the unseeded Chinese roared back in the second, winning it 21-15 to take the match into a decider.

The winners will meet Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana in Sunday's final.

Yamaguchi Akane defeats Chen Yufei in the women's singles semi-final

Yamaguchi Akane has beaten Chen Yufei 21-11, 21-13 in the women's All England semi-final, setting up a final with An Seyoung tomorrow, Sunday 20 March.

Billed as a battle between the world champ and the Olympic champ, Yamaguchi came out on top and put on a clinic after a slow start.

She came from 1-5 down to clinch the first game 21-11 and never looked back, Chen simply had no answer to Yamaguchi's all-action style as she returned absolutely everything and took her chances clinically.

11-4 ahead at the interval of game two there was no coming back for Chen and Yamaguchi put it away with some breathtaking badminton.

She'll face South Korean An tomorrow who also had a straight games victory over Tai Tzu Ying in her semi-final.

Lakshya Sen stuns Lee Zii Jia

India's big badminton hope Lakshya Sen has beaten defending champion Lee Zii Jia 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 in an hour and fifteen minutes.

The 20-year-old Indian took the opening game 21-13 and looked like he might run away with it but the Malaysian came back in the second set and found his rhythm, got his smash working and hit a string of sensational winners.

That meant we were going the distance and in the final game both gave it their all in punishing long rallies, Lee leading at the interval in the final game by 11-9.

But the momentum swung back and forth, Lee was 18-16 up and looking good until Sen rallied back to 18 apiece and then saw it out, showing incredible stamina to win the final game 21-19.

Sen will face the winner of Viktor Axelsen vs. Chou Tien-Chen from the other men's semi-final later today, the last match of the evening session.

Watanabe/Higashino defeat Puavaranukroh/Taerttanachai in mixed doubles

Japan's mixed double pairing Watanabe Yuta / Higashino Arisa have defeated top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh / Sapsiree Taerttanachai from Thailand 21-14, 21-15 in the semi-final.

Fourth seeds Yuta / Higashino dominated, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists never looked in doubt with the explosive Watanabe at his brilliant best.

Coming into this match the Thais hadn't dropped a single game but the Japanese duo streaked ahead and ended up with five match points, of which they only needed one.

Matsuyama Nami / Shida Chiharu through to final

Japanese 7th seeds Matsuyama / Shida have booked their spot in the women's doubles final after a convincing 21-8, 21-12 victory over South Korean duo Jeong Na Eun and Kim Hye Jeong.

It never looked in doubt as Japan's rising double act were in control from start to finish.

Matsuyama is 23 and Shida 24 and today they looked like they have a bright future ahead of them.

'Minions' eliminated by Indonesian young guns Fikri/Maulana

World No.1 pairing Marcus Fernaldi Gideon / Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo are out of the All England tournament after they lost to young risers Muhammad Shohibul Fikri / Bagas Maulana by 22-20, 13-21, 21-16.

The top seeds fell to their compatriots Fikri/Maulana who are 22 and 23 after a pulsating all-Indonesian duel.

It was a thriller of a match that gave us around an hour of seriously entertaining badminton, the young duo claimed the first set before the 'Minions' battled back winning the second game 21-13.

Just when it looked like the momentum was swinging towards the more experienced two, Fikri / Maulana played some blinding badminton to dominate the final set and make it through to tomorrow's final.

An Seyoung defeats Tai Tzu Ying at the All England semi-final

An Seyoung is into the final of the 2022 All England Open after a 21-19, 21-13 victory over World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying.

An will playing for her first All England title in Birmingham as Tai bows out.

It was the perfect start to a perfect match for the South Korean as she opened up a six-point lead (11-5) at the mid-game interval in the first set, and she quelled a spirited comeback from the Tai to win the first game 21-19.

Tai came from 0-4 down to lead 5-4 in the second - her first lead of the match - but the Chinese Taipei shuttler couldn't find her rhythm or get any momentum and An roared with delight after her straight-games victory over the top seed.

All England Open Badminton Championships 2022 - Day 4 preview

It's semi-finals day today on Saturday 18 March, the fourth day of action at the All England Open 2022.

Some of the biggest names in badminton are back on the court and shuttling off for a shot at the title in Sunday's finals.

This is the first BWF Super 1000 event of badminton's 2022 BWF World Tour, and finals will take place on 20 March at the Arena Birmingham in England.

The day begins with World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying taking on South Korea's An Seyoung who's ranked fourth in the world: both needed just 35 minutes on Friday to seal quarter-final victory and it's set up to be a thriller.

Women's Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Chen Yufei faces Akane Yamaguchi on the other side of the draw in another world-class contest.

And speaking of thrillers, defending All-England champ Lee Zii Jia faces Indian rising star Lakshya Sen for a final berth, while it's reigning men's Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen against Chou Tien-Chen in the other men's semi-final.

For more information on India's shuttlers click here.

There's plenty of doubles action happening today too, including three Indonesian pairs.

These are just some of the matches to look forward to and we've got a full preview here of who to watch and how the players are looking ahead of this first top event of the season.