Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall made history as they reached the final of a World Tour event for the first time at the Qatar Open.
The English duo beat Hong Kong’s second seeds Ho Kwan Kit & Wong Chun Ting in a five-game thriller, holding off a late fightback to book a men’s doubles final showdown with Chinese superstars Ma Long & Xu Xin.
Pitchford and Drinkhall began their final-four contest in brilliant style, taking the first game 11-7.
And they continued to impress as they doubled their advantage by winning the second game 12-10.
But, the second seeds showed all their style as they ground their way back into the contest – taking the third and fourth games 11-4 and 11-9 respectively.
A tight and tense finale saw Pitchford and Drinkhall fight back from a deficit of two points to take the game 11-7 and with it book a place in the final.
The duo previously saw off Lam Siu Hang & Ng Pak Nam 3-1 in the quarter-finals having already beat Qatari pair Mohammed Abdulwahhab and Ahmad Khalil Al-Mohannadi 3-0 in the last 16.
Elsewhere, Pitchford’s week could get even better as he takes on Vladimir Samsonov in the last 16 of the men’s singles.
Sportsbeat 2020