Camilla Martin wins All England women's crown

Denmark's Camilla Martin became the first European in 22 years to win the prestigious All England badminton championships when she stunned World champion Gong Ruina in straight games in Birmingham on Sunday.

The fifth-seeded Dane's 7-5, 8-6, 7-3 win over the Chinese player was also the first time any player has captured a major title by winning four matches in a row against China.

But the Chinese got some compensation an hour later when second seed Chen Hong powered past unseeded Indonesian Budi Santoso 7-4, 7-5, 7-1 to capture the men's championship.

A delighted Martin described the achievement as like being "alone with the Chinese army".

"It is very special to me," the Dane said. "I knew I had a chance once I got to the final because I have beaten Gong four times before, but I tried not to think abut it because I would get too nervous."

In fact, it was the World champion from China who appeared to suffer from the tension. Her consistency fell away towards the end of the first game and in the second, in which she had a game point at 6-4, she self-destructed.

Four times in the next five rallies there were errors from Gong, and when she pushed a little net shot wide to go two games down, the balance of the match changed irrevocably.

Martin was moving the better and defending the better of the two players even when Gong briefly took a 3-1 lead in the third game.

She was also the more fired up, erupting into a characteristic bout of swearing in Danish in order to respond to Gong's last moment challenge.

Martin's best badminton was in the last few points, when she began to attack more herself, but it was with a series of clears and a tight net shot that she won the point on, which earned her a piece of badminton history.