by Wade Townsend
India were able to continue their run of good form at the Seamaster 2017 Australian Open as Sutirtha Mukherjee and Pooja Sahasrabudhe defeated crowd favourites Miao Miao and Jian Fang Lay from Australia 3-1 (11-9, 12-14, 8-11, 9-11).
“We are very excited. I feel beating Australia in Australia is something special.” Pooja Sahasrabudhe
The Australian pairing was the more experienced on the court, yet the Mukherjee and Sahasrabudhe didn’t back down. They even had answers for the unique stylings of Lay.
“Jian Fang Lay is very tricky and has an odd game. We Discussed a strategy with our coach Massimo before the match so we were prepared, and it worked.” Pooja Sahasrabudhe
Next up for the pair is the no.1 seeds, Chen Meng and Zhu Yuling (CHN). It will be a formidable test.
Meanwhile, Mima Ito and Hina Hiyata kept Japanese spirits alive after yesterday’s dark day. The pair looked in good form as they swiftly dealt with Singapore’s Lin Ye and Zhou Yihan, winning 3-0.
The Chinese pairings of Chen Xingtong/Wang Manyu and Chen Meng/Zhu Yuling, both kept clean sheets in their quarterfinal matches, defeating Feng Tianwei/Yu Mengyu (SPG) and Choi Hyojoo/Jung Yumi (KOR) respectively.
The semi-finals will be played at 15:00 local time. Be sure to catch the action live at tv.ittf.com.
