by Ian Marshall, Editor

Takeshi Atsuya and Koji Uezu emerged the winners; after accounting for Kei Murai and Daisuke Kitaguchi in a hard fought five games full distance contest (11-3, 17-15, 4-11, 9-11, 11-7), they recovered from a two games to nil deficit to overcome Shoji Fujiki and Tohei Kanoya (8-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9) to secure the title.

In the opposite half of the draw, in a rather less intense and dramatic fashion, Shoji Fujiki and Tohei Kanoya had beaten Yuki Shimoyama and Tokushima Tsuyoshi (11-6, 11-5, 5-11, 11-8) to reserve their place in the final.

Notably all four semi-finalists were unexpected; none occupied highly seeded places, all were outsiders for honours.

Earlier at the quarter-final stage Takeshi Atsuya and Koji Uezu had beaten the host nation’s Kanak Jha and Zhang Kai, the top seeds (11-8, 11-6, 11-7); Shoji Fujiki and Ryohei Kanoya had accounted for the Canadian combination of Jeremy Hazin and Eugene Wang, the no.2 seeds (6-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-2). Likewise in five games, Kei Murai and Daisuke Kitaguchi had ended the hopes of Germany’s Gerritt Engemann and Tobias Hippler, the no.3 seeds (11-4, 10-12, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7).

Meanwhile, in the opening round Yuki Shimoyama and Tokushima Tsuyoshi had progressed by overcoming United States pairings. In a most impressive manner they had beaten Tian Ye and Nicholas Tio, the pair that shared the third seeded spot with the German duo (8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8), prior to overcoming Dan Liu and Chen Bo Wen (11-6, 11-6, 13-11) to seal their penultimate round place.

2018 United States Open: Seeding and Results

2018 United States Open: Feature articles by Matt Hetherington and Richard Finn