BADMINTON: U.S. OPEN : Jun, Hoyer-Larsen Will Meet in Men’s Final

Jun Liu of China and Poul Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark, both power-game players, will play in the men’s singles final of the U.S. Open Badminton Championships today at the Bren Center in Irvine.

Fourth-seeded Hoyer-Larsen defeated Hendrawan of Indonesia in one semifinals, 15-12, 15-11, and Jun, seeded second, downed Foo Kok Keong of Malaysia, 9-15, 15-11, 15-10, in the other.

Hoyer-Larsen, 27, gives the edge in the final to Jun.

“He’s very aggressive, jumps high, is very fast, very powerful, and makes few mistakes,” Hoyer-Larsen said. “I’ll have to be patient, keep him away from the net and counter-attack.”

Shi Quand Lin, Jun’s coach, said the winner will be the more aggressive player.

“We have to attack first because the Danish player is very skillful,” Shi said. “He plays good defense, is very powerful and has good footwork.”

The men’s final follows the women’s singles final, which begins at 1 p.m. today.

Doubles partners Lim Xiao Qing and Christin Magnusson will meet in an all-Swedish final in the women’s singles.

Lim, 25, ranked eighth in the world and top-seeded in this tournament made short work of Japan’s Hisako Mizui, with an 11-1, 11-0 victory.

In the other semifinals, Magnusson, the seeded fourth, outlasted second-seeded Pernille Nedergaard of Denmark, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7.

It will be the fourth meeting this year between Lim and Magnusson, two naturalized Swedish players.

Magnusson emigrated from Uganda when she was 10, and Lim immigrated to Sweden from China and became a naturalized citizen in April.

Lim, a three-time member of the Chinese team from Fujien, won the previous three matches, including a semifinal match in the Swedish Open, where she eventually captured the women’s singles title.

Magnusson hopes to keep Lim away from the net and keep the bird in play longer, as she did against Nedergaard in their semifinal match.

Magnusson, who blew a 7-1 lead and eventually lost the first set, 9-11, took a 10-3 lead in the third set and held on.

She pinned Nedergaard in the baseline and repeatedly scored with well-placed drop shots, after long rallies.

Soon Kit Cheah and Beng Kiang Soo of Malaysia, rated No. 6 in the world, advanced to the men’s doubles finals with a 15-3, 15-10 victory over Sweden’s Jan-Eric Antonsson and Stellan Osterburg.