In only their fourth tournament as a pair, Jeppe Bay and Lasse MØlhede powered through to the semifinals of the YONEX All England, where they face defending champions Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe.

Up against Thai duo Nipitphon Phuangphuapet/Tanupat Viriangkura, Bay and Molhede turned around the first game from 7-14 with eight straight points that effectively took the match away from the Thais. Having prevailed in the close first game, the second was a breeze for the Danes after 10-all, as they won 11 of the next 13 points. The 21-19 21-12 result set up their first World Tour Super 1000 semifinal.

“I think it was a good performance, not the best start but we came through,” said Molhede. “I think we got some really good movement in the middle of the court, especially in the first game and then we were dominating the whole match. We’re really happy about the match. It’s really unbelievable, reaching the semifinals. I can’t imagine it right now. I just don’t know what to say.”

“We’ve seen our opponents play before in Thailand,” said his partner. “We know Nipitphon a lot from when we were younger so it’s crazy to play on this stage against such players and to compete against them is really, really nice.”

An all-Danish semifinal was thwarted by defending champions Endo/Watanabe, who held off Niclas Nohr/Mathias Christiansen in a close match, 24-22 21-19.

The other semifinal too will feature Denmark versus Japan, with third seeds Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda taking on Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.

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