by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Occupying the no.3 seeded position in the draw, they beat the no.2 seeds to cause an upset of note; moreover they extracted revenge by overcoming a Japanese pair.

In a full distance five games contest decided by the minimal two point margin, they overcame Miu Hirano and Kasumi Ishikawa (11-8, 5-11, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10).

Disappointment for one Japanese pairing, in the opposite half of the draw it was defeat for another; Hina Hayata and Mima Ito, the top seeds, lost to China’s Ding Ning and Zhu Yuling, the no.5 seeds (11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6).

“We haven’t played doubles together for a long time. We are still exploring tactics and in the middle of the match we were not really complementing each other well. Luckily, we made some adjustments and communicated better. I am happy with the win. We haven’t been a partnership for a long time and we had some troubles at the match. I believed we played quite well.” Ding Ning

“It was a smooth start to the match but our opponents, who have been together for many months changed things in the second and third games to take the lead. However, we are good at picking ourselves up in times of trouble. We will learn from this match and make more progress.” Zhu Yuling

The final will be played on the evening of Sunday 3rd June.