hampered Lee's performance since the Olympic Games: the stress of the Olympic final, a phobia of Lin Dan due to his lopsided Olympic defeat at Lin's hands, and (echoing Misbun Sidek's conjecture) the pressure of being the world number one. Despite Lee's difficulties in international play, he recorded his seventh consecutive victory at the National Badminton Grand Prix Final in Kedah on 12 December 2008, thus breaking the record of six consecutive titles set by Misbun Sidek. Lee ended the year with a title in the Super Series Masters Finals. However, Lin Dan and China's other top players did not compete, their association citing injuries and fatigue. 2009 Lee Chong Wei started the 2009 season with his fifth Malaysia Open title. He failed to secure his first Korea Open and All England Open title despite marching into the final. However, he secured his second title of the year in the Swiss Open which was held in Basel, defeating Lin Dan in straight sets and marking his first win in the finals against the Chinese opponent outside home turf. Next, Lee was defeated by Chen Long of China in the India Open. Lee claimed he lost because of food poisoning and insisted that authorities improve the conditions before the World Championships. In May, Lee helped Malaysia reach the semi-finals of the Sudirman Cup, the first in national history, despite his unbeaten record in the tournament being blown out by Lin Dan. He won another two titles in June, the Indonesia Open and the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold, despite failing to defend his Singapore Open title when he was taken by Nguyễn Tiến Minh in the second round. Lee kicked off the second half of the season with defeat by Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the world meets, but went on to win the Macau Open in August. He reached the semi-final in the China Masters, but once again failed to beat his all time rival Lin Dan. Then, Lee participated in the Japan Open. He only managed to reach the second round of the Open, before winning the Hong Kong Open in November. His inconsistency saw him tumble down in the first round of the China Open. In December, Lee defended his Super Series Masters Finals title, which saw the competition played without the top badminton players in the world. 2010 Lee started the year with the title in all events