2 April, 2023
Greg Mairs and Jenny Moore surged through their first BWF World Tour semi-final with a memorable run to the last four at the Madrid Spain Masters this week.
Mairs and Moore started their campaign in the Spanish capital with a tough battle against Danish duo Mikkel Mikkelsen and Rikke Soby.
Despite dropping the opening game, the English pairing rallied to seal a 19-21 21-13 21-16 victory and set up a second round encounter versus Chang Ko-Chi and Lee Chih Chen.
The Chinese Taipei pairing had beaten fourth seeds Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie in their first round match but proved no match for Mairs and Moore, who defeated them 21-13 21-17 to reach the last eight.
In their quarter-final encounter they came up against Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin of China, who came into the contest after upsetting sixth seeds Supak Jomkoh and Supissara Paewsampran.
Much like in their opening contest Mairs and Moore found themselves trailing but fought back to triumph 17-21 21-13 21-18.
It was arguably the biggest win of their career against the pair who won the China Masters and Swiss Open, on the verge of breaking into the world top 20.
Eighth seeds Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje were their last four opponents, with the Danes having overcome top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai in the previous round.
And Christiansen and Boje ultimately proved too strong in a 21-9 21-18 victory on Saturday, though there are significant positives for Mairs and Moore to take from their week.
Elsewhere, there was another encouraging display from Chloe Birch and Lauren Smith, who reached a second consecutive BWF World Tour quarter-final to confirm their status as one of the top four women’s doubles pairs in Europe.
Birch and Smith started their campaign against Estonian pairing Kati-Kreet Marran and Helina Ruutel, who had come into the draw after being promoted from qualifying.
And Birch and Smith used all their experience to ease into the second round, thanks to a 21-11 21-15 victory.
However, things got more challenging in the second round, with the English pairing facing Margot Lambert and Anne Tran.
The Frenchwomen were in control during the opening game, only for Birch and Smith to claw their way back into the contest and battle their way to a 13-21 21-12 21-18 victory to reach the last eight in Madrid.
Maiken Fruergaard and Sara Thygesen were next up for the Commonwealth Games silver medallists, and despite their best efforts it was the Danish pairing who prevailed 21-17 21-10 to progress.
Elsewhere Ben Lane and Sean Vendy, who like Birch and Smith will be seeded at June’s European Games in Krakow, were back in action after their run to the last four at the YONEX Swiss Open a week ago.
Lane and Vendy were seeded eighth in Madrid and started the tournament impressively with a 21-10 21-13 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Yang Ming-Tse.
That set up a second round contest against Ren Xiang Yu and Tan Qiang, the pairing who had beaten them in Basel just a week before.
And once again it was the Chinese pairing who sealed victory, prevailing 21-15 22-20.
Having played women’s doubles alongside Birch, Smith was also in mixed doubles action alongside Marcus Ellis.
Smith and Ellis fell 19-21 21-16 21-17 to Indonesians Adnan Maulana and Nita Violina Marwah in round one, though it was one of the duo’s best displays since Ellis’ return from hip surgery.
