English super mixed duo Chris and Gabby Adcock reached the Yonex All-England Open semi-finals with an intense three-game defeat of the Rio Olympic gold medalists Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia in 64 minutes.
"The crowd played a massive part in helping us turn that around," Gabby Adcock told BBC Sport.
Chris Adcock added: "They are the best pair in the world at making you feel like you're not playing well and it was a real struggle for us to begin with.
"The crowd played an important role today" - The Adcocks
"We could have easily crumbled and been out of here, going home, so I'm really pleased with how we responded and how the crowd helped us.“
The Adcocks, seeded 7th as they seeks their third Superseries career title, face Lu Kai/Huang Yaqiong of China - who beat Denmark’s Joachim Fischer/Christinna Pedersen - in the last four.
"We've played the Chinese a few times and know what we're going to get from them, so we'll rest now and come out fighting again tomorrow," said Gabby Adcock.
"We reached the semi-finals last year and wanted to improve on that, so we're on course and have come here to win.“ Her husband added: “Hopefully we can play better tomorrow, although I’d take play like today’s if we win again.”
Marin and Axelsen lost their quarter-final clashes
"I don't know what happened," Marin said as a first reaction to her defeat to former world champion Ratchanok Intanon. "In the end I am angry with myself. I was in control“, the Olympic Champion told AP.
The Spaniard, who won the prestigious Yonex All-England trophy in 2015, lost in three games 22-20, 13-21, 21-18 after 78 minutes of play. Her exit meant there will be a new Yonex All-England women's champion on Sunday.
Viktor Axelsen had a great start in his quarter-final campaign against iconic Lin Dan. The Dane who beat the Chinese in the Olympic bronze medal match smashed Lin in the first game 21-8 but then lost his game plan and lost control of the match. Lin Dan won 21-14, 21-15 and moved into Saturday’s semis.
Two Danish pairs still in title race
With the current Europan Champions Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen and Mads Kolding/Mads Conrad two strong Danish duo made it to the last four of the 600.000 Dollars event. Rytter Juhl/Pedersen eased past Japanese duo of Fukuman/Yonao 21-12, 21-12 while their compatriots Kolding/Conrad had to work for almost an hour to beat the Chinese pair Lu Kai/Zheng Siwei in three games.
CLICK HERE for all results of the 2017 Yonex All-England Open.
Article by Manuel Rösler. Photos by BadmintonPhoto.