Sisters Erin & Anna Green are through to their first senior final on a day sprinkled with surprises in the doubles competitions at the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships. 

While the men’s doubles will see the top two pairs face off, the women’s doubles will see the Greens take on top seeds Tin-Tin Ho & Emily Bolton.

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Ho and Bolton looked like they were going to ease into the women’s final, but Mari Baldwin & Mollie Patterson had other ideas. Baldwin & Patterson came from two sets down to force a decider, but the vast experience of Ho & Bolton was just enough to get them to the final, winning 11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6.

The Greens faced Amy Marriott & Megan Jones for a place in the final. After splitting the first two games, the left and right hand combination of the Green sisters helped them save two match points in the fourth. The fifth game was a close affair, but Erin and Anna made it through to finals day, winning 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 14-12, 11-8.  

The biggest shock of the early rounds of the women’s doubles came as the second seeds, Denise Payet & Jasmin Wong, were beaten in five close games by Marriott & Jones. The final score was: 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8.  

Top seeds Ho & Bolton lost the first game to Naomi Coker & Sienna Jetha, but found their form to win 8-11, 11-1, 11-7, 11-8. The other seeded pairs, Green & Green and Baldwin & Patterson, also made it through. 

Both semi-finals were straightforward for the top two seeds in the men’s doubles. Paul Drinkhall & Liam Pitchford beat Olly Cornish & Adam Dennison. They will face Tom Jarvis & David McBeath, who beat Toby Ellis & Nahom Asgedom. 

Cornish & Dennison were rewarded with a semi-final match against Drinkhall & Pitchford after beating Louis Price & Larry Trumpauskas. The final score: 13-11, 14-16, 11-4, 11-5.  

Ellis & Asgedom reached the semi-finals by beating Josh Bruce & Lorestas Trumpauskas in a five-game thriller. There were some excellent rallies from both pairs, with racing into a two-game lead. However, Bruce & Trumpauskas fought back to level it at 2-2. The fifth game was tight, but Ellis & Asgedom edged it 11-9. 

Jarvis & McBeath had few troubles beating Shaquille Webb-Dixon & Joseph Langham Ferreira.

Third seeds Sam Walker & Darius Knight went crashing out in the first round, losing in four games to Cornish & Dennison. Both pairs had left and right-hand combinations, but it was the younger duo who came out on top.

After taking the first game, Cornish & Dennison found themselves 10-6 down in the second. However, multiple errors from Walker & Knight saw them lose it 13-11. The third seeds took the third game 11-4, but were outplayed in the fourth, losing it 11-5. 

The fourth seeds also fell at the first hurdle as Chris Doran & Joe Ferguson lost in five games to Ellis & Asgedom. This continued Asgedom’s excellent form from Friday, where he made the semi-final of the men’s U21s, where he lost to Ferguson. The final score: 7-11, 11-8, 13-11, 3-11, 11-9. 

Webb-Dixon & Langham Ferreira came from two games down to beat Naphat & Naphong Boonyaprapa. The final score: 10-12, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8.  

Pitchford & Drinkhall survived a slight scare in the third game of their first round match, but came through in the end against Connor Green & Felix Thomis. The final score: 11-5, 11-3, 10-12, 11-2.  

Second seeds McBeath & Jarvis eased into the quarter-final, beating Joseph Hunter & Jakub Piwowar 11-5, 11-7, 11-4.