It was a golden day for European mixed doubles players at the quarter finals stage of the 2013 Yonex German Open as all three quarter final couples’s surged passed Asian opposition to ensure at least one pair in the finals come Sunday.

The European onslaught was kicked into gear in the very first match on court two by English duo Chris Adcock and Gabby White. In a riveting encounter the English duo pulled off a feat that most Europeans only dream of by beating quality Chinese opposition with Olympic Champion Zhang Nan on board.

Adcock and White opened up with a controlled first set victory 21-15 before Zhang Nan and partner Tang Jinhua came back to level with a fortunate 25-23 win in the second. But the new Chinese partnership looked very disjointed and the English capitalised to take the match with a 21-15 win in the deciding set.

“This is a big win for us and one we are proud of and proves we are going in the right direction” said the English duo after their victory.

Not to be outdone the Danish veterans Julie Houmann and Anders Kristiansen followed in English footsteps by being equally clinical in their match against the second Chinese pair Qui Zihan and doubles Olympic champion from London Zhao Yunlei. The pattern to the Danish victory followed that of the English by winning the first and losing the second game before powering home in the third to advance to the semi-finals.

Rounding off the hat-trick was in the hands of second seeds Mateusiak and Zieba and the Poles duly delivered in yet another three set marathon against number 8 seeded Koreans Hayakawa and Matsutomo.

The victory of all three pairs in today’s semi-final means that there will be guaranteed European representation in Sunday’s final which has become almost a tradition at the German Open.

Germany itself was looking for its own hat-trick of victories on the TV court but only managed to come away with one win that of Juliane Schenk in the women’s singles. Schenk was ruthless in her victory of Tai Tzu Ying as her speed was always a clear burden on the slightly built Thai player.

“I think today was a good indication of my condition and desire to win. The crowd were huge again and they always lift us home players” said Schenk.

To see Juliane Schenks full post match interview click HERE

Speaking of the German crowd it is worth mentioning them as to see 2500 people pack into the Mulheim arena on a working week day was a sight to behold. It was scenes akin to the gates opening at a rock concert with the rush to get the best seat and they clearly did their part to make the atmosphere one of the, if not the best, I have ever witnessed at a badminton event.

Join BETV for tomorrow's semi-finals starting 14.30 CET.

For all results from Germany click HERE
For full photo gallery from Mulheim follow Badminton Europe on Facebook by clicking HERE

Article and Image by Mark Phelan (Live in Germany)