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Chloe Magee and her brother Sam in action. ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan
Net gains

Evans and Magee advance to the finals of Irish Open

The Olympic badminton stars will face French and Danish opponents in Sunday title deciders.

IRELAND’S OLYMPIC BADMINTON stars Scott Evans and Chloe Magee have progressed to the finals of the men and women’s finals at the Carton Irish Open.

The duo entered the international competition carrying the hopes of Irish supporters and they both have excelled in the past two days.

Evans’ match began shortly after 5pm at the Badminton Centre in Baldoyle and he raced into a first set lead against France’s Lucas Claerbout.

He took the first set 21-17 and held Claerbout at arm’s length in the second, eventually closing it out 21-18 for a straight sets victory.

Evans, who beat Germany’s Marcel Reuter in the morning quarter-final, will face the dashing and unseeded French player Lucas Corvee in tomorrow’s final.

He sent out a tweet of delight following his win:

Magee’s semi-final triumph was scrappier and brushed the hour mark but she eventually stole a march on Beatriz Corrales of Spain.

Magee won the first set 21-18 but lost a tense second set 23-21.

The Donegal native reached deep to play her best badminton of the tournament and comprehensively seal the semi-final win 21-12. Magee also took to Twitter to celebrate her positive day’s work:

Her final against Line Kjaersfeldt of Denmark precedes Evans’ clash and will take place around midday at the Baldoyle venue.

First up, at 10:30am tomorrow, is the Women’s Doubles with Samantha Barning and Eefje Muskens up against Audrey Fontaine and Emilie Lefel in a clash of the top seeds.

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