Chris and Gabrielle Adcock earned a last-gasp entry into the Mixed Doubles semi-finals at the BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals today.
The England pair had lost their first two matches in Group A and needed not only to win their last match against Germany’s Michael Fuchs/Birgit Michels in straight games, they required Chinese pair Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei to beat Korea’s Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na in straight games. Both possibilities actualised and ironically enough, the Adcocks were drawn to meet their saviours Zhang/Zhao in the semi-finals.
The last session’s play saw Chris/Gabrielle Adcock beat Fuchs/Michels 21-16 21-17 before Zhang/Zhao eased past Ko/Kim 21-12 21-18. Three teams in the group finished with one point each (one win and two losses), but the countback of games won and lost favoured the Adcocks over Ko/Kim and Fuchs/Michels.
The other Mixed Doubles semi-final will see defending champions Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen (Denmark) face China’s Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin – the same pair that beat them in the final group match today.
Men’s Singles top seed Chen Long (China) is drawn to meet India’s Kidambi Srikanth. The other semi-final will be an all-Danish affair, with Jan O Jorgensen pitted against Hans-Kristian Vittinghus.
India’s Saina Nehwal completed her Women’s Singles group assignments with a 3-0 record and 
will next take on the player who beat her at the Hong Kong Open last month, Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei). Japanese World Junior champion Akane Yamaguchi takes on Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun.
Men’s Doubles top seeds Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong run into Denmark’s Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen while China’s Chai Biao/Hong Wei face Japan’s Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa.
Two Chinese pairs made the last four of Women’s Doubles. World champions Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei will be challenged by Korea’s Jung Kyung Eun/Kim Ha Na and top seeds Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi by China’s Luo Ying/Luo Yu.
Featured image: The draw ceremony taking place last night in the presence of media and team officials.
For today’s results, click here.
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