Rasmus Espersen/Amalie Cecilie Kudsk were the European highlight of the day, causing a major upset by defeating reigning world champions Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei.

The Danish pair had a great day on court. After losing the first game 18-21 to the fourth seeds, they responded by taking the second 21-12 and forcing a decider. The third game had an extremely close ending. The Danes led for most of the game, but the Malaysian pair caught up late at 19-19. From there the points were exchanged, with Espersen/Kudsk earning three match points before finally sealing the victory 25-23.

Some Europeans continue their journey in Birmingham, while others saw their campaign end on the opening day.

Nhat Nguyen and Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen both advanced to the next round of the Super 1000 tournament. However, some Europeans were knocked out – including eighth seed Alex Lanier, who lost to Victor Lai in an excellent match, and third seed Anders Antonsen, who fell to Koki Watanabe 8-21, 12-21. Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Bøje, also seeded, have also lost today.

There were also injuries, with Mia Blichfeldt and Ben Lane/Sean Vendy withdrawing from their matches. You can read more here.

We continue tomorrow with the remaining first-round matches, starting at 10am local time (GMT+0).