Fresh from the news of their respective rise in the world rankings, Tin-Tin Ho and Sam Walker have advanced to the Mixed Doubles semi-finals at the WTT Feeder Lagos in Portugal, with both players putting out excellent individual performances in the singles’ events too.

Their path to the semis started in the Round of 16 on Sunday as they faced Ukrainian pair Andrii Grebeniuk & Anastasiya Dymytrenko. The opening end saw them exchange early points, before pulling clear to an 11-4 score. The Ukrainian duo responded in kind by taking the second in dominant fashion, before a Ho & Walker took the third 11-6, followed by the decisive end 11-5.

In the next round they faced more Ukrainian opposition, Nazar Tretiak & Veronika Matiunina. Both pairs split the opening two sets before it looked like Ho & Walker took a firm grasp of the match in the third as they won 11-3. The fourth end wasn’t to be the end of the match, despite the English pair having match point, before the Tretiak & Matiunina won three all important consecutive points to take it 12-10 and send the match to a decider. After a rather cagey performance from both sides, in the end, Ho & Walker looked the more confident side as they managed to secure their spot in the semis with an 11-9 fifth end.

With a place in the final on the line, the toughest test yet faced Ho & Walker in the form of Hsu Hsien-Chia & Chen Min-Hsin of Chinese Taipei. Despite holding their own in the early stages of set, the English national champions couldn’t quite get firing in any of the games they played, and consequently, ultimately bowed out with a 3-0 defeat.

In the women’s doubles, Tin-Tin Ho partnered Switzerland’s Rachel Moret. The Round of 16 saw them sweep Beatriz Pinto & Mariana Santa 3-0, before facing South American fourth seed pairing Victoria Strassburger (Brazil) & Valentina Rios (Chile).

Ho & Moret made a storming start with decisive wins in the opening two ends (3, 4). But Strassburger & Rios got themselves back into the frame by responding with their own 11-3 win in the third. This wasn’t enough in the end as Ho & Moret re-lit the flame from the first two sets, to take the fourth, and final set, 11-3 to secure a spot in the semi finals.

Here, they faced the top seeds, Chien Tung-Chuan & Li Yu-Jhun. The pair from Chinese Taipei proved too strong, and ultimately took victory 3-0 (8, 8, 3), thus sending Ho & Moret out of the competition.

Although doubles, was not the only action on display as both Tin-Tin Ho & Sam Walker took part in the respective singles events. Walker, starting as a wildcard in the Round of 32, took a solid 3-0 win over Portuguese qualifier Clement Laine, 3-0, before setting up a tie with Japanese second seed Ryoichi Yoshiyama in the Round of 16. A great match ensued, with Walker coming out the victor after winning the fifth end 12-10. In fact, all of Walker’s successful sets went to deuce.

Walker faced the tough test of facing Tiago Apolonia in the last eight, but he got off to a good start, taking the opener 11-8. But despite this early lead, Apolonia proved too tough a test as the Portuguese went on to claim the remaining ends required for progression to the semi-finals.

Tin-Tin Ho faced Clemence Chevallier, a qualifier from France in the Round of 32. Ho always looked in control and came out unscathed and a 3-1 win. From here, she set up a tie with Giorgia Piccolin of Italy, the eighth seed in the women’s singles, where she continued her fine form with a 3-0 victory. In the quarter final, Tin-Tin once again faced Li Yu-Jhun, whom she had lost to earlier in the day in the women’s doubles semi final. After losing the first, Tin-Tin pulled one back to level the tie, but wasn’t able to do more, as Li ended up moving on to the final four.

Results

Mixed Doubles
Round of 32
Sam Walker/Tin-Tin Ho bt Andrii Grebeniuk (UKR) 3-1 (11-4, 5-11, 11-6, 11-5)
Quarter Final
Walker/Ho bt Nazar Tretiak/Veronika Matiunina (UKR) 3-2 (11-7, 6-11, 11-3, 10-12, 11-9)
Semi-Final
Hsu Hsien-Chia/Chen Min-Hsin (TPE) bt Ho/Walker 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-6)

Women’s Doubles
Round of 16
Tin-Tin Ho/Rachel Moret (SUI) bt Beatriz Pinto/Mariana Santa 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 12-10)
Quarter Final
Ho/Moret bt Victoria Strassburger (BRA)/Valentina Rios (CHI) 3-1 (11-3, 11-4, 3-11, 11-3)
Semi-Final
Chien Tung-Chuan/Li Yu-Jhun (TPE) bt Ho/Moret 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-3)

Men’s Singles
Round of 32
Sam Walker bt Clement Laine 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-7)
Round of 16
Walker bt Ryoichi Yoshiyama (JPN) 3-2 (9-11, 12-10, 7-11, 14-12, 12-10)
Quarter Final
Tiago Apolonia (POR) bt Walker 3-1 (8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-4)

Women’s Singles
Round of 32
Ho bt Clemence Chevallier 3-1 (11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4)
Round of 16
Ho bt Giorgia Piccolin (ITA) 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 12-10)
Quarter Final
Li Yu-Jhun (TPE) bt Ho 3-1 (11-5, 6-11, 11-7, 11-1)