Last year’s Swatch Major Gstaad champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum are just one win away from another place in the final after they cruised to a straight sets win over Brazilians Saymon Barbosa and Guto Carvalhaes.
The bronze medalists from the World Championships have a taste for the mountain air in Gstaad – it was here 12 months ago that they started their golden run of form that saw them clinch a host of titles.
Standing in their way in the semi-finals are Brazil’s Evandro Gonçalves and Bruno Oscar Schmidt after the South Americans clawed themselves back from a set down to trump Qatari duo Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse.
The two teams last met in the final of the Warsaw four-star event which the Brazilians came out on top in a classic final. Which team will progress to the final here in the Swiss Alps? It promises to be an epic encounter on the Center Court.
Joining those two teams in the semi-finals are Dutchmen Alex Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen, who edged a nail-biting three-setter out on court 3 against Czech pair Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner. The Red Bull team from the Netherlands took the first set 21-14 before the Czech hit back, taking the second 25-23. More drama was to come as the tiebreaker went into overtime, with Alex and Robert getting the job done in a breathless 22-20 third set victory.
The Dutchmen, bronze medalists at the last Olympics meet the team that won the silver in Rio in 2016, Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai. The Italians, who won bronze here in Gstaad 12 months ago, saw off the challenge of Poles Bartosz Losiak and Piotr in straight sets.
The semi-final action takes place on Center Court at 1 and 2pm CEST. The bronze medal match will be at 5.15pm CEST before the two remaining teams fight for gold at 6.30pm CEST.
