The mixed doubles pair of Sudket and Saralee are now a step closer to winning their second title in a row.

Local champion and world No 16 Boonsak made history yesterday by becoming the first Thai to make it into the men's singles final at the Asian Championships.

The former Thailand Open champion and law student, who lost to Indonesian Soni Dwi Kuncoro in the quarter-finals at last year's Asian meet, powered past China's rising star Chen Yu, ranked No 26 in the world, 24-22 21-13 in their semi-final yesterday.

The 24-year-old Thai, who on Friday night survived a scare to reach the semi-finals with a come-from-behind 15-21 21-8 21-11 victory over Indonesian Simon Santoso, now faces Malaysian top seed and world No 2 Lee Chong Wei in today's final.

Lee, fresh from winning the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, thrashed South Korean Park Sung Hwan 21-15 21-15 in the other semi yesterday.

"Boonsak has beaten all the top players in the world before, which means he has the quality. Add that to his never-say-die attitude on the court and I have to be on my toes tomorrow," Lee said.

"No doubts - he is a good player and the match could go either way."

The two last met four months ago at the SEA Games team event in Manila, and it was Lee who triumphed in three games under the 15-point format.

But for Boonsak, that match is already ancient

history.

"The Manila meeting was the first time we played each other. But that was under different circumstances. Tomorrow would be different again," Boonsak said.

"There is my personal target to achieve, and having made it to the first final of the year in a major meet, I want to do well. Hopefully the Malaysian crowd would be behind me just like they had been in my previous matches."

The run of Thailand's Poompat Sapkulchananart in the men's singles event came to an end in the quarter-finals when he lost to Lee 21-13 21-16.

In the mixed doubles, the second seeded Sudket and Saralee, who became the highest-profile Thai players in the world after winning a bronze medal in last year's World Championships, survived a strong challenge from Singapore's Indonesian-born Hendri Kurniawan Saputra and Chinese-born Li Yujia to win 14-21 21-19 21-9 in their semi-final yesterday.

Sudket and Saralee now take on world No 6 and Indonesian top seeds Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir, who in the yesterday's semi-finals sent China's Zhang Wei and Yu Yang packing in two games.

Meanwhile, Boonsak's younger sister Salakjit fell at the first hurdle, losing to Taiwan's Pai Min Jie, while her team-mates Monthila Meemek went down to Japan's Kanako Yonekura in the first round and Soratja Chansrisukot was defeated by Hong Kong's top seed Wang Chen.

The Nation, Agencies