Top-seeded Paulikiene & Raupelyte went through their Pool A matches without dropping a set. In the winners match, they claimed a narrow 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) win over USA’s Madelyne Anderson & Brook Bauer. The third place in the pool went to Austria’s Katharina Schutzenhofer & Lena Plesiutschnig.
Lahti & Ahtiainen also won both their Pool B games in straight sets. However, the second set of the first-place match against Ukraine’s Maryna Hladun & Tetiana Lazarenko was pushed deep into overtime before the Finns could celebrate a 2-0 (21-18, 25-23) victory. Thailand’s Taravadee Naraphornrapat & Woranatchayakorn Phirachayakrailert also progressed to the single eliminations as the third-placed team in the pool.
In the Pool C final, third-seeded Clancy & Johnson had to come back from a set down against Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova & Daria Romaniuk before claiming a 2-1 (19-21, 21-19, 15-10) win. Lithuanian qualifiers Daniele Kvedaraite & Jekaterina Kovalskaja finished third in the pool.
American qualifiers Savvy & Van Winkle, seeded 21st in the main draw, upset both teams who represented France at the Paris Olympics on the way to the first place in Pool D. First, they mastered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) shutout of fourth-seeded Clemence Vieira & Aline Chamereau. Then, they achieved a 2-1 (21-16, 16-21, 15-10) victory over ninth-seeded Lezana Placette & Alexia Richard. Another American duo, Hailey Harward & Kylie Kuyava-De Berg, also upset Vieira & Chamereau for the third place.
Shaw & Toni continued their great performance from last week’s Haikou Challenge and from Thursday’s qualifiers with two straight-set wins in Pool E. Seeded fifth in the main draw bracket, the American team delivered a 2-0 (21-16, 22-20) sweep of the first-place match against Netherlands’ Emi van Driel & Wies Bekhuis. The third pair that advanced from that pool were Spain’s Belen Carro & Sofia Gonzalez.
An all-Australian Pool F final between two teams that emerged from the qualifiers was resolved in favour of 19th-seeded Fleming & Alchin, who beat seventh-seeded Stefanie Fejes & Jana Milutinovic in straight sets, 2-0 (21-19, 21-16). Germany’s Chenoa Christ & Hanna-Marie Schieder grabbed the third ticket to the knockouts from the pool.
