Day 2 at the LI-NING China Masters 2024 brought plenty of success for European players, setting up a strong Round of 16 presence.
Day 2 recap:
Toma Junior Popov kicked off the European charge with an impressive win over last week’s Hong Kong runner-up, Lakshya Sen. The Frenchman comfortably overpowered a weary Sen, closing the match 21-11 21-10.
Next came Toft/Magelund, who carried on Denmark’s mixed doubles momentum from yesterday. In a thrilling, back-and-forth contest against Cheng/Zhang, it was anyone’s match until the very end. The Danes held their nerve to secure a hard-fought 19-21 21-15 21-19 victory.
Viktor Axelsen celebrated his first win in more than half a year — a moment we covered in greater detail in the following article. He now faces Alex Lanier tomorrow, after the young Frenchman defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chia Hao Lee who was the runner-up at this years All England. The clash between the reigning European Champion and the Olympic gold medalist promises to be one of the highlights of the tournament.
Anders Rasmussen/Kim Astrup met fellow Danes Daniel Lundgaard/Mads Vestergaard in a rematch of their European Championships encounter back in April. This time, Rasmussen/Astrup took their revenge with a commanding 21-16 21-13 performance to advance to the next round.
Line Christophersen also shone, defeating Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei to book her spot in the last 16.
Meanwhile, England’s Ben Lane/Sean Vendy bounced back strongly after last week’s extraordinary 30-29 heartbreak. Facing Japan’s Takumi Nomura/Yuichi Shimogami, the pair produced a solid performance to claim a much-needed win and keep their tournament hopes alive.
Anders Antonsen shared the court with child-hood freind Rasmus Gemke in a close match that ended 21-19 21-19 in favor of Axelsen, securring his place in the next round.
This means a total of 12 European players/pairs will play in tomorrow's round of 16, a great feat which we hope will bear more fruit in this Super 750 tournament.
To watch the full order of play for tomorrow click here
