On the 16th local time, Li Jiahao, ranked 22nd in the world in Chinese Taipei, staged the most amazing dark horse in recent years at the 2025 All England Badminton Super 1000 Tournament, and entered the men's singles final with a posture that exceeded pre-match expectations, and will challenge China's world No. 1 Shi Yuqi to compete for the crown.

Shi Yuqi defeated Li Shifeng 21-9, 20-22, 21-19 in the men's singles semifinals and advanced to the All England final for the fourth time

According to the official website of the Badminton World Federation, since the Japanese men's singles star Kenichi Ta 15 years ago, no dark horse player has reached the final in this way. Li Jiahao, who had just begun to make a name for himself on the international stage, broke through the defence of France's 20-year-old rising star Lanier in the men's singles semi-final on Saturday to complete a comeback 19-21, 21-14, 21-17, the latter's hopes of becoming the first French man to reach the All England final.

Last year's Japan Badminton Super 750 champion Lanier was considered the favourite for the semi-finals due to his recent excellent form, but Li Jiahao showed no less competitive quality, mastering the match with speed, precision and superb skills in front of the net.

Li Jiahao was pleasantly surprised by the results. The 25-year-old said after the match: "The feeling of winning is not yet fully settled, I didn't expect to play so well. ”

Li Jiahao staged the most amazing dark horse in recent years at the All England Championships, breaking into the men's singles final with a posture that exceeded pre-match expectations, and will challenge Shi Yuqi for the crown

Li Jiahao, who made it to the finals by surprise, said, "I myself was pleasantly surprised by this result. In the first game, I was still adapting to the rhythm and not as fast as my opponent. I was a bit passive and didn't really execute my pre-match strategy until the end of the game. I was completely immersed in the game, I didn't want to think about winning or losing, I just wanted to enjoy the game. "At the end of the day, I was a little anxious and the return was not ideal for the landing and organisation. My coach reminded me to go back to our tactical set-up and I made some adjustments. I was a little nervous because the score was very close. ”

However, the final will be an entirely different challenge, against the experienced Chinese top seed Shi Yuqi. 2018 champion Shi Yuqi advanced to the final for the fourth time with a 21-9, 20-22, 21-19 victory over 2023 champion teammate Li Shifeng in another thrilling Men's Singles semi-final.

Although he lost to Li Shifeng in consecutive All England finals and Hangzhou Asian Games finals in 2023, the 29-year-old Shi Yuqi has since met his teammate who is four years younger than him three times and has won all of them. Shi Yuqi said after the game that the last two games of the day were very intense, and the two of them made more mistakes due to excessive physical exertion in the end. Although he is still focused on every point despite his fatigue and thinks about the line for every ball he plays, in the end, it is more important not to make mistakes.

An Seying, who has played all over the world this year, eliminated Akane Yamaguchi 2-0 in the women's singles semifinals

The Women's Singles final will be between South Korea's top seed Ahn Se Ying and China's second seed Wang Zhiyi. This is also a matchup between the world No. 1 and the world No. 2 in women's singles. The 2024 Paris Olympic champion An Seying defeated Japan's Akane Yamaguchi 21-12, 21-17 in the semi-finals, defeating Akane Yamaguchi in the All England for the first time in her career, and at the same time has won 19 consecutive victories this season!

This is the third duel between Ahn Seying and Akane Yamaguchi at the All England Championships, the first two of which were won by Akane Yamaguchi, who defeated An Seying in the final three years ago to win the title, and then defeated An Seying again in the semi-finals last year.

Although the clash with An Xiying was 4-9, Wang Zhiyi said that she was looking forward to the final

Wang Zhiyi defeated teammate Han Yue 21-10, 21-19 in the other Women's Singles semi-final. Although the clash with An Xiying was 4-9, Wang Zhiyi said that she was looking forward to the final. She admitted frankly that her opponent has not lost this year, but she feels that she is not in bad shape after these few games.