The French player is through to the semifinals at the YONEX SUNRISE Vietnam Open 2025, securing a podium finish at the Super 100 tournament with a solid performance in today's quarterfinals.

Merkle’s journey to the quarterfinals hasn’t been easy. He faced Singapore’s Jia Wei Joel Koh in the first round, a familiar opponent – this being their fifth clash – and came out victorious after a tough three-game match. He followed that up with another intense match, this time against Japan’s Riku Hatano, which lasted an hour. Merkle won once again in three games.

Today was more straightforward. Facing China’s Xin Yu Zhou, Merkle was leading from early on, securing the first game, 21-9. The Chinese opponent pushed back more in the second game but the Frenchman stayed solid and closed it 21-15. “Some of my best badminton played today,” Merkle said after the match on his social media.

Tomorrow in the semifinals, he will face Huang Ping-Hsien. While Merkle is seeded sixth, the player from Chinese Taipei is just two spots above him in the world rankings – so it should be an exciting, evenly matched clash. Merkle has already won three titles this year on the European Circuit, and now can add another strong result here in Vietnam, whatever the outcome is tomorrow.

In mixed doubles, Ruben Garcia/Lucia Rodriguez were the only other Europeans still competing. The Spanish duo were having a solid run but their tournament ended today in the quarterfinals. They lost to China’s Liao Pin Yi/Tang Rui Zhi, 15-21, 22-20, 12-21, despite a giving a great fight, pushing the match to three games.