Juliane Schenk in fifth German Open final

Juliane Schenk, Germany’s greatest-ever women’s singles badminton player, has reached the final of her home German Open four times, but has failed to clinch the title. On Saturday, she gave herself yet another opportunity by winning her semifinal match over Sayaka Takahashi of Japan 21-17 21-9.

Schenk, who lost to Asian opponents during her four failed opportunities – Korea’s Jun Jae Youn (2008), China’s Wang Xin (2010), Liu Xin (2011) and Li Xuerui (2012), will face yet another Chinese opponent in the final on Sunday – world No.3 Wang Yihan. Wang managed to hold off a tough challenge from Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun 21-19 8-21 21-16. Wang has a 7-2 record over Schenk, and will head in as favourite to win her second German Open title.

The men’s singles final will see top seed Chen Long of China against Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia. Chen had little problems in countering his younger compatriot Qiao Bin 21-8 21-16, while Sugiarto surprised veteran Boonsak Ponsana (Thailand) 21-19 21-12.

The men’s doubles will be an all-China affair. The young and upcoming pair of Qiu Zihan/Liu Guoliang, who upset top seeds Lee Yong Dae/Ko Sung Hyun in the quarterfinals, continued on their merry run, holding off Chinese Taipei’s Lee Sheng Mu/Tsai Chia Hsin 21-19 21-19 in the semis, and will take on compatriots Hong Wei/Shen Ye in the final.

China’s women’s doubles pair of Ma Jin/Tang Jinhua, who won several Superseries titles last year, surged into the final without trouble, and will take on Jung Kyung Eun/Kim Ha Na (Kor), while the mixed doubles final will be between Denmark’s Anders Kristiansen/Julie Houmann and Korea’s Shin Baek Choel/Jang Ye Na – the only final without a Chinese presence.