GUANGZHOU, China — Top-seeded Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and defending champion Lin Dan of China won contrasting victories Saturday to set up a much-awaited men’s final at the Badminton World Championships.



Lee struggled to find his groove early on but got his game together in time to beat third-seeded Du Pengyu of China 20-22, 21-12, 21-15. Four-time champion Lin easily defeated Vietnamese player Nguyen Tien Minh 21-17, 21-15.



Lin has progressed to the final even though the two-time Olympic champion hardly played competitively over the past year and entered on a wild card since he was ranked a low 100th before the tournament.



The women’s singles will see top seed Li Xuerui of China take on Thai 18-year-old Ratchanok Intanon, who outplayed fellow teen P.V. Sindhu in their semifinal.



But China will not achieve a third straight clean sweep of the world championships after its men’s doubles pair lost out to Indonesia. “I haven’t really played any world level matches over the past year and it’s unbelievable that I’ve got into the finals. I’m really happy,” Lin said after the match.



China’s Li strolled to a 21-5, 21-11 win against Bae Yeon-Ju of Korea in the women’s singles while India’s Sindhu was unable to cope with Intanon’s power and precision losing 10-21, 13-21.



“If I win tomorrow it will make history for Thailand because we have only ever reached the semis,” Intanon said. Sindhu remained upbeat, saying her ambition was still to be world No. 1. — Agencies