The last tournament before the big showdown at All England next week is the Orléans Masters 2025 in France. Many of the world’s top players are competing in Orléans, and several of Europe’s best players have also been part of the tournament.
The quarterfinals kick off today at 13:00 CET, with several European stars ready to take the court. Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour will face Beiwen Zhang — the two haven’t played each other since the Japan Masters 2023, where Zhang emerged victorious. Their head-to-head record is tied at 3-3, promising an exciting match to open the quarterfinal day.
Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund, seeded 5th, will face the 3rd seeds Yang and Hu from Chinese Taipei.
Rasmus Gemke has had a string of long, grueling three-set matches this year, with most results unfortunately not going his way. But in Orléans, the margins have favored the Dane, with impressive wins over Wang from China and Wangcharoen from Thailand. Gemke now faces India’s Ayush Shetty in the quarterfinals, where he enters the match as the favorite on paper.
Next week, Gemke will face Alex Lanier in the first round of All England. Lanier himself plays a quarterfinal today against Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto. Lanier leads their head-to-head 2-1, with his most recent victory over Nishimoto coming at the 2024 Japan Open, where Lanier claimed his first BWF tournament title.
The last European in action today is Nhat Nguyen, who will take on top-seeded Lee Zii Jia from Malaysia. Nguyen is still searching for his first win against Zii Jia, with the Malaysian leading their head-to-head 3-0.
The games can be watched on BWF's YouTube channel.