It was another great day at the PERODUA Malaysia Masters 2025, with most of the remaining Europeans making it through to the quarterfinals after great clashes on court.
In men’s singles, both Toma Junior Popov and Christo Popov delivered solid wins against Indian opponents. Toma defeated Ayush Shetty, 21-13 21-17, while Christo won against Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, 21-14 21-16. However, the brothers couldn’t continue their run in men’s doubles, losing to China’s world number four pair Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang.
Tomorrow, Toma Junior Popov will face India’s Kidambi Srikanth, who advanced through qualifications and took out Ireland's Nhat Nguyen in today's round. The head-to-head is 3-2 for Kidambi, but Popov won their last meeting two years ago.
Meanwhile, Christo Popov will meet Japan’s Yushi Tanaka. They’ve only met once before, two months ago at the Swiss Open, where Popov won in three games. Just one spot separates them in the world rankings.
It was also a thrilling day for Denmark, with many of their pairs advancing. Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and Daniel Lundgaard/Mads Vestergaard both booked their spots in the quarterfinals and will now face each other in an all-Danish clash. Their head-to-head is currently 1-1, with Lundgaard/Vestergaard upsetting the world number ones Astrup/Rasmussen at this year’s European Championships.
Mads Vestergaard, also competing in mixed doubles with Christine Busch, is through to the quarterfinals, and so are Rasmus Kjær/Frederik Søgaard, who fought through a close three-game match against Malaysia’s Kang Khai Xing/Aaron Tai, winning 21-10, 24-26, 21-16. Next up, they’ll face a very tough challenge – Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, the fourth seeds.
Nhat Nguyen, Julien Maio/Lea Palermo, Line Christophersen, Line Kjærsfeldt, and Rasmus Gemke have all lost today. Gemke nearly forced a decider with a huge comeback in the second game against Ng Ka Long Angus, going from 12-20 to 18-20, but the eighth seed held on to win 21-18, 21-18.
You can see tomorrow’s full order of play here.
