Mexico City: About a day after celebrating their stunning comeback from a one set deficit against Heather Olver/Lauren Smith of England, women’s doubles No. 1 seeds Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei found themselves struggling to maintain control over Shizuka Matsuo/Mami Naito of Japan, crashing out of the Mexico City GP semi-final with 16-21, 21-23 in 51 minutes on Saturday.
The unseeded Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito are set to face another unseeded pair Puttita Supajirakul/Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in the final.
In mixed doubles, No. 2 seeds Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia were barely troubled by Singaporeans No. 3 seeds Danny Bawa Chrisnanta/Vanessa Neo as the Malaysian dominated Chrisnanta/Neo in a 21-14, 21-13 scamper into the finals of the Mexico City GP final. Chan/Goh will clash with No. 4 seeds Choi Solgyu/Won Eom Hye of Korea for the mixed doubles title.
Artem Pochtarev from Ukraine who defeated No. 1 seed Ajay Jayaram of India yesterday, could not carry his momentum into the semi-finals. He went down to Pannawit Thongnuam of Thailand in a hard-fought 3 setter, losing 16-21, 21-16, 17-21. Thongnuam will play Lee Dong Keun of Korea for the men’s singles crown on Sunday.
Meanwhile, No. 2 seed Bae Yeon Ju of Korea will clash with No. 7 seed Sayaka Sato from Japan for the women’s singles title after defeating Natalia Perminova of Russia 17-21, 21-12, 21-17 in the semi-final.
Men’s doubles No. 2 seeds Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong’s hopes of winning their back-to-back titles in two weeks were dashed by Bodin Issara/Nipitphon Puangpuapech of Thailand. The two pairs went neck-and-neck in the first set, before Goh/Tan were broken down after 19-19 to let the first set slipped away by losing 19-21. The Malaysian pair was pretty much behind the entire second set, allowing Issara/Puangpuapech to dictate play and win the second set 21-18. Issara/Puangpuapech will play No. 3 seeds Manu Attri/B. Sumeeth Reddy of India for the men’s doubles title on Sunday.
