Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl booked their semi-final place at the Dubai World Superseries Finals after a tense victory in their final Women’s Doubles group match today.
The Group B encounter against Korea’s Jung Kyung Eun/Shin Seung Chan was a play-off for the second spot from Group B, and it lived up to expectations. For most of the 69-minute affair, the two pairs were entwined in a sticky contest, with neither managing to break free.
The Danes finally found the breakthrough they needed when Shin faltered under pressure. The Korean, who otherwise had a good match, rushed her shots at the net to help the Danes get the edge at 17-15. With the end in sight, Pedersen and Rytter Juhl did not kept their intensity, while Shin’s misery continued with an errant serve and another smash that she buried in the net.
“It was a tense match from beginning,” said Rytter Juhl, after the Danes had taken the match 21-19 9-21 21-16. “We’ve talked a lot about trying to enjoy it a bit more and not being critical of our own game. It worked really well today. Of course there were ups and downs, with the second one slipping away from us. But we had a good talk with (coach) Kenneth before the match that he was allowed to shout at us to keep up our level.”
“We like to pay the Koreans,” added Pedersen. “We think that’s the way to play 
Women’s Doubles – aggressive game, but with really good defence. It’s a hard battle when we’re up against them. As you could see, we were really happy that we came through. Before this match we talked about treating this match as a normal quarter-final. We’re happy to be in the semis, it will be tough tomorrow, that’s for sure.”
China’s Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan (featured image) showed no sign of slowing down, as they won their third straight match in the group. The Chinese handed Malaysia’s Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei a 21-17 21-18 defeat.
In Group A, Japan’s Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi maintained their all-win record by beating Korea’s Chang Ye Na/Lee So Hee 21-18 21-14 to top the group.
Kamura/Sonoda Through
Destination Dubai Rankings leaders Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda shook off late jitters to score an impressive win over Indonesia’s Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, 21-15 21-19, and take their place in the Men’s Doubles semi-finals.
The Japanese were on full throttle with their take-no-prisoners style in the Group A match: Sonoda the workhorse at the back and Kamura rifling winners at the front. The blistering attack of the Japanese had the Indonesians on the backfoot all through, but with seven match points in hand, Kamura and Sonoda got increasingly shaky as the Indonesians saved one match point after another. Fernaldi and Sujamuljo saved six before their luck ran out, and the Japanese celebrated their elevation to the semi-finals.
In another match of the same group, Denmark’s Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding picked up their third straight victory with a 21-15 18-21 21-18 result over Indonesia’s Angga Pratama/Ricky Karanda Suwardi.
Men’s Singles Group B saw Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long surprise Korea’s Son Wan Ho 24-26 21-8 21-11, while in Group A, China’s Tian Houwei handed a 21-16 22-20 defeat to Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen. The defeats were inconsequential for both Son and Jorgensen, as both had booked their semi-final spots.
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