by Ian Marshall, Editor

In the title deciding contest, the no.9 seeds, they accounted for the host nation’s Liu Juan and Wang Xinyue, the no.5 seeds (12-10, 11-6, 8-11, 11-3), having earlier in the day received a walk-over when scheduled to face England’s Tin-Tin Ho and Maria Tsaptsinos, the no.3 seeds.

Meanwhile, in the opposite half of the draw, Liu Juan and Wang Xinyue had accounted for Rachel Sung, also from the United States and Germany’s Nina Mittelham, the no.2 seeds (11-8, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4).

The appearance of Rachel Sung and Nina Mittelham in the penultimate round was no great surprise; they commenced matters the no.2 seeds; it was the same for Tin-Tin Ho and Maria Tsaptsinos, they were the no.3 seeds.

However, for Liu Juan and Wang Xinyue, even though the previous day Liu Juan had won the Women’s Singles title, as well as for Yuki Matsumoto and Eka So, progressing to the penultimate round was contrary to status.

At the quarter-final stage Yuki Matsumoto and Eka So had caused a major upset by beating the host country’s Wu Yue and Lily Zhang, the top seeds (11-9, 11-7, 11-6); in the same round Liu Juan and Wang Xinyue had beaten the pair in form. They had ousted Japan’s Miyuki Tamaishi and Mauka Taira, the opening round winners in opposition to the United States combination of Li Ruini and Zha Wenting (8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 5-11, 11-4), the pair who shared the no.3 seeded position with Tin-Tin Ho and Maria Tsaptsinos.

Success against the odds but for Yuki Matsumoto and Eka So, well earned and impressive success.

2018 United States Open: Seeding and Results

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