Dechapol and Sapsiree in their first Super Series semis in Singapore
Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai remained in contention in the OUE Singapore Open as other compatriots crashed out in the quarter-final stage on Friday.
The Swiss Open mixed doubles champion needed just 36 minutes to upset Indonesian seventh seeded Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto 21-17 21-13 for a semi-final spot. It was their second win over a seeded pair this week after stunning tournament’s No 2 Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia in the opening round on Tuesday.
“We are quite confident after we won the first round. We played according to our game plan by attacking Natsir more. They made more errors than usual today,” said Sapsiree who will turn 25 on Tuesday.
The Thai pair will take on either Joachim Nielsen and Christina Pedersen of Denmark or Kian Meng Tan and Pei Jing Lai of Malaysia in the semi-finals on Saturday.
“It will be tough no matter who we meet. But we come this far and we have nothing to lose from now on,” said Sapsiree in her first mixed doubles semi-final in a Super Series event.
The win was a redemption for Sapsiree after the women’s doubles defeat earlier in the day. She and Puttita Supajirakul went down to world No 3 Chang Ye Na and Lee So Hee of South Korea 12-21 13-21.
The other Thai women’s double team of Chayanit Chaladchalam and Phataimas Muengwong were also shown the exit in the quarter-finals. Losing to top seed Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi of Japan 14-21 11-21.
In the men’s singles, world No 11 Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk was upset by Sai Praneeth B. of India 21-15 14-21 19-21 which was his first defeat to the 30 year old opponent in three meets.
