Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje are ready for the final of the Super Series 1000 badminton tournament, Indonesia Open.
The Danish mixed doubles defeated the defending French champions, Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel, in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The match between the top European pairs was very intense, and the French duo won the first set, but Christiansen and Boje came back nicely and won in three sets: 18-21, 21-13, 21-15.
Christiansen and Boje entered the Indonesian tournament on a tailwind from a terrific spring of wins. In May, the Danish pair won both the Super 500 tournament in Thailand and the Super 750 tournament in Singapore.
The Indonesian Open has the status of a Super 1000 tournament and is surpassed only by the season finale in the World Tour hierarchy.
The Danish duo is seede fifth in the tournament, and Saturday's semi-final against the fourth-seeded French duo came after a very compressed schedule for Christiansen and Boje.
Despite that, the Danes looked fresh from the start and built a 7-4 lead early in the first set. However, then Delrue and Gicquel gradually settled into their stride and put themselves ahead 11-10.
The Danes managed to hang on for most of the set, but Gicquel eventually served home the set at 20-18.
However, Christiansen and Boje were not by any means visibly deflated and also got off to an excellent start in the second set, where they took a 7-2 lead.
Although the French recovered a bit of their usual stylish stride, the Danes kept control and closed out the second set in a comfortable manner.
The confidence of winning the second set carried them into the third set, where they quickly gained the upper hand and took a 15-9 lead.
Delrue and Gicquel fought well, but in the end had to see themselves outmatched by the dominant Danes.
Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje will face the Chinese duo Zhang Chi and Cheng Xing in the final.