Andrew and Sidebottom reach Slovenian semi-finals

Rachel Andrew and Sarah Sidebottom made it through to the last four for the first time this season at the YONEX Slovenia International.

Elsewhere in Maribor, there was success for Jack MacGregor and Adam Pringle as they reached the quarter-finals in the men’s doubles.

Andrew and Sidebottom took just 23 minutes to dispatch Nika Bedic and Kim Matovic of Slovenia, winning 21-15 21-8 in the first round.

They enjoyed walkovers in the round of 16 and quarter-finals to mean they were fresh to take on Meilysa Trias Puspita Sari and Rachel Allessya Rose in their semi-final.

Andrew and Sidebottom fought valiantly but were ultimately beaten 21-16 21-16 by the Indonesian duo.

MacGregor and Pringle made a strong run to the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles before coming up against eventual finalists Lin Yu Chieh and Su Li Wei.

The duo opened their Slovenia International account with a straight games win over Lim Chi Wing and Ng Jun Yan of Malaysia, coming through 21-18 21-18.

It was a similar result in the round of 16 as MacGregor and Pringle took on the French pair of Samy Corvee and Yanis Gaudin, winning 21-16 21-13.

In the quarter-finals, Lin and Su of Chinese Taipei had too much for MacGregor and Pringle as they won 21-9 21-15.

Both were also in action in the mixed doubles with MacGregor enjoying the longest run alongside Sidebottom.

The pair defeated France’s Enogat Roy and Anna Tatranova 21-19 21-18 in the first round before falling narrowly to Gianmarco Bailetti and Martina Corsini of Italy, losing 21-17 24-22.

Bailetti and Corsini had earlier defeated Pringle and Andrew in another tight match, the Italians coming through 16-21 30-28 21-18.

Rachel Sugden teamed up with Ciar Pringle in the mixed doubles, the pair tasting defeat in straight games at the hands of home pairing Miha Ivanic and Petra Polanc of Slovenia.

Sugden came away from Maribor with plenty of on-court minutes under her belt as also she made it to the last 16 of the women’s singles.

The world No.254 defeated Judith Mair of Italy 21-23 21-19 21-12 in 47 minutes to set up a tie with Ukraine’s Arina Marushchak.

Marushchak emerged victorious after a 42-minute-long battle with the Ukrainian competitor moving ahead before Sugden fought back to make it all square.

In the decider, Marushchak held on to take the win 21-19 16-21 21-10 before going on to lose another marathon match to Smit Toshniwal of India.

Also in the women’s singles, Lauren Middleton tasted defeat at the hands of Sophia Grundtvig of Denmark.

Middleton took the lead in the first-round clash before Grundtvig mounted a comeback to advance with a 19-21 21-12 21-7 win.

Full results are at www.tournamentsoftware.com