Not many Europeans made it to the second round, but the ones who did, did a good job again today. 

Some of the second round matches at the Hong Kong Open have been played and there have been already a few big surprises. 

Russia had a men’s doubles and a mixed doubles par who both were facing strong opponents. The mixed doubles partnership of Rodion Alimov and Alina Davletova, who made a huge surprise on Tuesday by beating the best Malaysian mixed doubles pair. Today they were facing third seeded Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai from Thailand. Again, they delivered an amazing performance and managed to play three close games, but unfortunately lost in the end 27-25, 15-21 12-21. 

Read also: Alimov and Davletova look to build on yesterday's upset

The Russian men’s doubles pair had a good first round win against Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong from Malaysia. Today, Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov faced Mathias Boe and Mads Conrad-Petersen from Denmark. They won the first game against Boe and Conrad, but the Danes came back in the second game and won. In the last game the Danes again showed who were the better pair and won the match 15-21 21-17 21-12. 

Danish dynamite

A big surprise in the women’s doubles was made by the Danish Maiken Fruergard and Sara Thygesen. They were playing eight seeded Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong from Korea, a pair who reached the final at the Denmark and French Open and won the Korea Open, just to mention some of their latest good results. But the Danes were strong today and managed to win 21-13 22-20. They are through to the quarterfinals tomorrow, where they will face third seeded Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan from China. 

Another great performance was delivered by Anders Antonsen. He was playing the Chinese legend Lin Dan for the first time in his career, something he has been looking forward to. Antonsen got a great start and won the first game comfortably 21-14. Antonsen continued his plan and took the second game 21-11, sending him through to the quarterfinals where he will face Indonesia’s Jonathan Christie. 

Click here to follow the matches.