Badminton stars Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith came through a titanic battle as they made their way through to the final of the mixed doubles at the Thailand Masters.
Having had to come from behind in their quarter-final, the English duo again hard to do it the hard way as they overcame the Malaysian third seed pairing of Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai 19-21 21-19 24-22.
The victory marks the first mixed doubles final appearance on the BWF Tour for the duo, who won European Games gold together in 2019, since their run in the Syed Modi International last year.
Ellis and Smith went behind early in the first game, but claimed six consecutive points to go 18-17 up, however their experienced opponents fought back to triumph 21-19.
Huat and Lai started the second game in a strong vein, and led for almost all of it, until an inspired spell from Ellis and Smith brought them their reward of a narrow 21-19 win.
The finale was a dramatic battle with both pairs taking leads that they could not hold on to.
But, finally, with the scores tied at 22 apiece, Ellis and Smith held their nerve by taking two points on the bounce to ensure that they would be back on Sunday.
Sportsbeat 2020