With seven European today at the YONEX French Open 2025, it was a solid start for the players on this second day which featured two exciting all-European clashes – and they’re looking forward to tomorrow’s round of 16.

To kick off the day, we saw a clash between Kirsty Gilmour and Line Højmark Kjærsfeldt – two players who know each other well, having played against each other since they were teenagers. “It's the same two players playing each other, but just under such different circumstances,” Gilmour said, referring to how much has changed, especially since they last met in the European Championships final in April, where the Dane got the win.

Today, it was the Scot who came out on the winning side, staying calm and sticking to her game plan. “I've been dealing with some body issues. And I woke up towards the end of yesterday, I was like, my injury feels great, like an actual miracle. So here we are,” she said after the straight games win, 21-17 21-18.

It was a close match at times, with Kjærsfeldt fighting hard too. “Line comes with a lot of power and a lot of deception. And if she's having a good day, it can be devastating. I don't think her skills were totally on point today. I took advantage of that,” Gilmour added.

The Scottish player was supported by fellow Scottish player Ciara Torrance, who sat on the coach’s chair since both Gilmour and the pair of Alexander Dunn/Julie Macpherson were playing the first matches of the day, and the coach was with the pair. “Honestly, great coach. Encouraging, affirming and yeah, had some good insights. She did a great job.”

Another much-anticipated all-European match took place later in the day, with Daniel Lundgaard/Mads Vestergaard playing against the Popov brothers. It was a match the French crowd had been eagerly awaiting. “It was quite fun. The crowd was really cheering for Christo and Toma, and sometimes it's also very funny to be on the opposite side. It's always nice to play in front of a good crowd,” said Vestergaard.

The Danes took the win this time, a revenge for their loss at the European Championships earlier this year. “We attacked a little bit better this time, with some more angles. I think in Horsens, their defence was crazy good, it was so hard to get the smash down,” they said.

Now they’re through to the round of 16 and are excited to meet their next opponents. “We are really looking forward to get revenge against Alfian and Fikri,” they said. The Indonesian pair, eighth seeded, advanced after Huang Di/Liu Yang retired from their match.

You can see all of today’s results here.

Tomorrow, the round of 16 will be played in two sessions: the morning session begins at 10am CEST, while the evening session starts at 5pm.