Saarbrucken: World No. 45 men’s doubles pair Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia overcame a one set deficit in the semi-finals to barrel through World No. 20 men’s pair Chen Hung Ling/Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan in 46 minutes to advance to the 2016 Bitburger Open final.
Unseeded Ong/Teo came out firing and took the first set 21-16. The Malaysian pair then dug themselves too deep a hole when they trailed Chen/Wang 13-20 in the second set before losing the game 18-21. Fortunately, Ong/Teo pulled themselves together in the third, storming back to beat the Taiwanese pair 21-17.
Ong/Teo will face a tough final as No. 8 seeds and World No. 30 Michael Fuchs/Johannes Schoettler of Germany are awaiting them on Sunday.
Nevertheless, Malaysia’s mixed doubles pair of Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing couldn’t book a final berth after they were bundled out by Britain’s No. 1 seeds Chris and Gabby Adcock 21-15, 21-18 in the semi-finals. The Adcocks will meet last week’s French Open champions and No. 2 seeds Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen in the final.
No. 4 seed Shi Yuqi who won last week’s French Open men’s singles title, remained on course for winning his second men’s singles title in two consecutive weekends when he hammered an off-key Sameer Verma of India 21-18, 21-15 in the final four to set up the Bitburger Open final against another Indian player Sourabh Varma.
In women’s competition, No. 1 seed He Bingjiao of China will take on Thailand’s No. 4 seed Nitchaon Jindapol in the final, while women’s doubles No. 1 seeds Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan of China will cross sword with No. 2 seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand for the women’s doubles crown.