by Ian Marshall, Editor

At the quarter-final stage of proceedings, Miyuu Kihara and Yumeno Soma, caused the upset of the round, by the minimal two point margin in the deciding game, the no.5 seeds, they withstood a spirited fightback by the Chinese Taipei partnership of Chen Ting-Ting and Su Pei-Ling, the no.2 seeds, to secure victory in a quite dramatic five games contest (12-10, 11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-9).

Composure maintained but somewhat more significantly, the duo underlined the fact that two players with contrasting styles can prove a most effective partnership; both right handed, Miyuu Kihara is by nature an attacking top spin player, Yumeno Soma extols the classic defensive art, somewhat in the mould of the father of all Japanese defenders, Norio Takashima.

Success in five games for Miyuu Kihara and Yumeno Soma; for Miyu Nagasaki and Satsuki Odo, victory was gained in one game less. They overcame Serbia’s Tijana Jokic and Sabina Surjan, the no.8 seeds, in four games (9-11, 13-11, 11-3, 11-8).

Notable performances from Japanese combinations, it was the same from Chinese partnerships. Huang Fanzhen and Shi Xunyao, the no.3 seeds, beat Russia’s Anastasia Kolish and Mariia Tailakova, the no.7 seeds (11-6, 11-7, 11-2); in a slightly more exacting duel, Guo Yuhan and Qian Tianyi, the no.14 seeds, ended the hopes of Amy Wang and Crystal Wang of the United States, the no.12 seeds (8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4).

At the semi-final stage Miyu Nagasaki and Satsuki Odo meet Huang Fanzhen and Shi Xunyao, Guo Yuhan and Qian Tianyi oppose Miyuu Kihara and Yumeno Soma; both semi-finals and finals will be played on Sunday 9th December.