Mülheim an der Ruhr: Malaysia’s No. 3 mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai wobbled at times in the face of fierce resistance from No. 8 seeds Choi Solgyu/Chae Yoo Jung of Korea, surviving a second set loss before winning their German Open semi-finals 23-21, 23-25, 21-13 in 78 minutes.
Goh/Lai will face Niclas Nohr/Sara Thygesen of Denmark in the final. Nohr/Thygesen defeated He Jiting/Du Yue of China 21-19, 19-21, 21-17 in other mixed doubles semi-finals.
In men’s doubles, No. 6 Takuto Inoue/Yuki Kaneko Japan stunned the Rio Olympic silver medalists Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong 21-17, 18-21, 21-19 en-route to the finals of the German Open.
Inoue/Kaneko will face No. 7 seeds Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in the final on Sunday.
Hong Kong’s No. 6 seed Angus Ng Ka Long had to go the distance to beat No. 3 seed Shi Yuqi of China 21-18, 18-21, 21-17 to set up a final clash with No. 4 seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan next.
Women’s singles No. 1 seed Akane Yamaguchi strolled through a tough first set challenge from No. 3 seed Nozomi Okuhara before winning the semi-final match 23-21, 21-12. Yamaguchi will play No. 4 seed Chen Yufei of China for the women’s crown.
