Top seed Lin Dan, a soldier from China's Army, won a wonderful birthday gift, entering the men's singles badminton final after nipping Jiangsu's rising star Chen Jin 2-0 at China's 10th National Games on Friday.

The invincible Lin, who almost swept all the renowned men's singles shuttlers in the world in recent years, began the semifinal with a 3-1 lead before Chen managed to make it 4-4.

Lin, who will celebrate his 22nd birthday today, then launched his dominating kills to pocket 10 points in a row for a 14-4 lead, and won the opener 15-6.

Three years junior, Chen, who swore to exert one hundred and fifty percent efforts in facing the world's top player the previous day, was no way to find his rhythm in the second, letting Lin run away with 10-0.

A little bit absent-minded in the remainning, Lin eventually took the second 15-9.

In their last meeting, Lin beat Chen 2-1 in the second round ofthe just-concluded China Masters tournament.

For the national title, Lin will meet the winner between Bao Chunlai from Hunan and Chen Hong of Fujian.