England’s Chris Adcock and Scotland’s Imogen Bankier reproduced the form which took them into the world’s top 10 last season as they booked their place in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles at the Yonex French Open in Paris tonight.
In the opening match of quarter-finals night the Anglo-Scottish pair overcame fourth seeds and Yonex Denmark Open runners-up Tontowi Ahmad and former double world champion Liliyana Natsir 21-18 22-20 in 33 minutes. It repeated their semi-final win over the Indonesians which took them to a silver medal at the 2011 Yonex BWF World Championships at Wembley Arena.
Once again Adcock and Bankier produced a fluctuating first game, turning a 9-6 deficit into an 11-9 lead before the Indonesians responded to lead 15-12. Adcock and Bankier were level again at 15-15 and then from 17-16 down they surged again to lead 20-17 before taking the opener on their second game point.
The seventh seeds then made a strong start to the second game, opening up a 6-3 advantage and going on to reach the interval leading 11-7. At 13-8 Adcock and Bankier looked on their way to victory but the determined Indonesians battled back to draw level at 15-15 and at
18-17 they were ahead for the first time since 2-1.
Adcock and Bankier held match point at 20-19 but the Indonesians saved it. However, Adcock and Bankier are used to tense finishes to games and they maintained their composure to take the contest on their second match point.
They will play the winners of the other quarter-final in the top half between top seeds and Yonex Denmark Open winners Xu Chen and Ma Jin of China and Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul of Thailand.
Adcock and Bankier beat the Thai pair in straight games on the way to their world silver medal but Songphon and Kunchala won in straight games at last week’s Yonex Denmark Open.
They have met the Chinese pair twice and lost both times – at last year’s French Open 23-21 21-19 and at the 2011 Yonex All England championships 14-21 21-14 21-13.
The Yonex French Open is the 10th event on this year’s OSIM BWF World Superseries with just the China Open and Hong Kong Open next month to come.
Dane Jan Ø. Jørgensen, who beat the legendary Peter Gade in his last official match, his compatriot Viktor Axelsen, Germany's Juliane Schenk and Christinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl moved into the last 4 of the French Open as well and showed a fantastic form yesterday.
To view all results from Paris click here.
Article by William Kings, Photo (LIVE) by BadmintonPhoto