JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia: India’s V. Diju and Jwala Gutta scored a sensational mixed doubles win Saturday over Poland’s Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk, booking their place in the BWF World Super Series Finals.
The Indians capitalized on a below-par performance by the Polish duo at the semifinals at the Johor Bahru City Stadium to seal their place in the final with an emphatic 21-19, 21-11 win. They will take on Denmark’s Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl in the final.
First on court, both pairs started off erratically in a match riddled with unforced errors but the Indians settled down faster and showed greater composure, winning in 30 minutes.
“Nobody really gave us a chance of coming this far in the tournament, let alone qualifying for the final but we did it,” said Gutta.
“In fact, even we were skeptical of reaching the last four as I’ve not been training for the past two and a half weeks due to a viral infection,” she added.“I was forced to rest and I wasn’t sure of coping with the schedule. But as the tournament progressed, our performance has also improved and we have nothing to lose in the final.”
Meanwhile Fischer/Rytter Juhl were in their element, stopping England’s Anthony Clark/Donna Kellogg 21-13, 21-17. There was more joy for the Danes in the women’s doubles when Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Lena Frier Kristiansen survived a tough three-game encounter against Taiwan’s Cheng Wen-hsing/Chien Yu-chin to win 21-17, 10-21, 21-16 to ensure their place in the final.
Showing greater hunger for victory, the Danes combined a great game of attacking and defense to nullify the attacking play from Cheng/Chien.
