It has been an unfortunate start to 2026 for Europe’s highest-ranked men’s doubles pair, Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. Two first-round exits have now marked the beginning of their season, certainly not the start the experienced Danish duo had been hoping for.

In fact, this is a repeat of last year’s scenario, where the pair also suffered first-round defeats at both the Malaysia Open and the India Open. On the positive side, they do not lose any world ranking points as a result, but at the same time it underlines a downward trend that the Danes will hope to break as soon as possible.

They will get another opportunity next week when they compete at the Indonesia Masters Super 500.

In today’s match, the Danes stayed close throughout both games, but when it mattered most, their Chinese opponents Huang Di/Ren Xiang Yu proved sharper and more clinical, deciding the match with scores of 21–19 21–18.