After a shaky start in the first set, the Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists pulled off an amazing comeback in the second and dragged the game into a rubber set to secure a place in the semifinals today.

The third seeded duo won 17-21, 21-18, 22-20 in 66 minutes at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham to set up a last four date with unseeded Japanese pair Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matustomo.

Yuki-Misaki advanced to the last four after defeating Danish pair Niclas Nohr-Amalie Magelund 21-15, 21-10.

Another national mixed doubles pair, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing, failed to progress when they succumbed 21-17, 21-9 to Japan’s Yuta Watanebe-Arisa Higashino in straight sets.

Earlier, top men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia upset world No 1 Kento Momota of Japan to qualify for the semifinals of the world’s oldest badminton tournament.

Zii Jia beat top seed Momota 21-16, 21-19 in 55 minutes in the quarterfinals and will take on Mark Caljouw of Holland today.

Newly-crowned Swiss Open champions Pearly Tan-M Thinaah’s hopes of reaching the last four of the tournament were dashed when they went down fighting 12-21, 22-20, 16-21 to Japanese pair Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida.