Top seed Lin Dan of China saved a match point to reach the All England badminton final for the third successive year on Saturday with a 15-9, 10-15, 17-14 win over Malaysian world number two Lee Chong Wei.
Lin, the world number one and 2004 champion, trailed 6-13 in the decider but staged a brilliant comeback to level at 13-13.
Wei went ahead at 14-13 but Lin saved the match point and levelled at 14-14 before one final effort carried the Chinese to victory. Lin took off his shirt and celebrated joyously in front of a 5,000 capacity crowd.
His opponent in Sunday's final will be South Korean fifth seed Lee Hyun-il, who beat Denmark's Peter Gade, Europe's last hope in the singles, in their semi-final.
In a match of sharp contrast, Gade swept through the opening game before Lee found his range and full power to race into his first All England final 3-15, 15-8, 15-1.
"I wanted to show the stamina and strength of the men's singles game in China so I focused really hard to aim to get one point at a time and when I got to 10-13 I felt much more confident," Lin told reporters.
After recovering from a serious knee injury a couple of years ago, Gade, 29, has looked in recent months to have found the kind of form which took him to the All England title in 1999.
DISAPPOINTED GADE
He ousted the promising Chinese talent Chen Jin in the quarter-finals and had Lee on the run in the first game on Saturday only to lose his way as the Korean took command.
"He had a lot of good variations in the the last two sets and all credit to him but I am very disappointed," Gade said.
"I felt my game has been very good this week but I also feel I have to accept I still need a longer period of preparation to get my physical level to where I want it to be."
Mixed doubles champions Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms of England, who survived an epic quarter-final against a powerful Chinese pair on Friday, had a much easier time on Saturday.
They defeated Indonesian second seeds and world champions Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir 15-12, 15-4 in 44 minutes.
In the final they meet Zhang Jun and Gao Ling, the Chinese duo who pipped them to gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
"If we could avenge the Olympic defeat in front of our own fans it woud be perfect," Robertson said.
The women's singles final will be an all-Chinese affair between defending champions Xie Xingfang and Olympic gold medallist Zhang Ning, who has yet to win the All England title.
