Another beautiful day of badminton in Odense has come to an end, but the European chances to rise to the top have not. We had to say goodbye to half of the European players, but this also means that three players/pairs have advanced to Saturday's semifinals.
The quarterfinals, unfortunately, marked the end of the road for the doubles pairs Delrue/Gicquel, Magelund/Toft, and Lane/Vendy. However, the tournament has showcased the talents of these three pairs.
Delrue/Gicquel found their top form when they defeated the fifth-seeded Goh/Lai in the first round and continued their success against the newly formed pair Bøje/Tabeling in the second round. The top-seeded Huang/Feng proved to be too tough a challenge, but they leave the tournament with their heads held high.
Toft/Magelund reached an impressive quarterfinal for the second time in a month at one of the major tournaments. Unfortunately, today they were not close to victory and lost to Tang/Tse from Hong Kong with a score of 21-18, 21-13.
Lane/Vendy demonstrated in both the first and second rounds that they can beat the best players in the world on a good day. However, the Indonesian pair Alfian/Ardianto proved to be better today, winning 21-15, 21-19.
Anders Antonsen played a fantastic match today against China's Li Shi Feng. The Dane emerged victorious with scores of 12-21, 21-8, 22-20. You can read more about the match
here.
Home favorites Astrup/Skaarup showed why they have been considered one of the world's best men's doubles pairs for the past two years, defeating the 2021 world champions in a tight and well-played match, 13-21, 21-14, 21-18.
Alex Lanier, like Antonsen, found himself in a long three-set thriller, facing Loh Kean Yew from Singapore in the last match of the quarterfinals. There were fantastic rallies, intensity, and drama as Lanier emerged victorious with scores of 21-18, 15-21, 24-22. However, before reaching that point, Lanier received both a yellow and a red card for not obeying the referee's order to refrain from drinking and wiping his face. While he disagreed with the decision, he acknowledged that he didn’t follow the referee's instructions. The full interview with Alex Lanier can be seen
here.
Tomorrow’s semifinals will feature three matches with European participation. Live updates can be followed on our website or on Badminton Europe’s social media.