On the third day of the 2025 European Championships, the final players finally got on court. Due to injuries and illness, several of the tournament’s biggest stars, such as Line Kjærsfeldt and the men’s doubles pair Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, had not played until today. It was also the day we saw our first medalists in mixed doubles and women’s doubles — but more on that later.

The day started with three nail-biting matches, all going the full distance. Toma Junior Popov was pushed to the limit until the interval in the third game, you can read more about that here. 
6th seed Polina Buhrova was upset by an in-form Ozge Bayrak from Türkiye with the score 21-15 17-21 15-21. And Julien Maio/Lea Palermo surprised everyone by beating 4th-seeded Scots Alexander Dunn/Julie Macpherson 24-22 16-21 21-17.

That set the tone for the rest of the day, and the high level of play continued throughout.
Back to the mixed doubles and women’s doubles, as mentioned, Julien Maio/Lea Palermo secured their first-ever European Championships medal, and tomorrow they’ll face another pair also hunting their first medal, at least together, Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund. Amalie won bronze at last year’s European Championships with former partner Mathias Thyrri, and it’ll be exciting to see who books a place in their first European final.

One pair who do know what it takes to reach a European final is the reigning champions Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue, who comfortably secured their semifinal spot with a 21-9 21-14 win over Robin Tabeling/Alexandra Bøje. The French pair will now face Denmark’s Mads Vestergaard/Christine Busch, who beat Germany’s Jones Ralfy Jansen/Thuc Phuong Nguyen 21-14 21-18.

Mixed Doubles Semifinals
• Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue vs Mads Vestergaard/Christine Busch
• Jesper Toft/Amalie Magelund vs Julien Maio/Lea Palermo

In the women’s doubles, two former Danish partners, Sara Thygesen and Maiken Fruergaard, are both playing their final international tournament. The duo, who have four European Championship medals together, split after the Olympics in Paris, and Fruergaard was paired with new partner Natasja P. Anthonisen.

Today, both played in separate quarterfinals. Debora Jille/Sara Thygesen faced 4th-seeded Julie Finne-Ipsen/Mai Surrow, but the Danish-Dutch duo controlled the match from start to finish, winning 21-13 21-13.
Natasja P. Anthonisen/Maiken Fruergaard faced Kirsten De Wit/Mariia Stoliarenko, and they too were never really threatened, they won 21-16 21-8. Their semifinal will be against reigning champion Margot Lambert, now playing with new partner and reigning European Youth Champion, Camille Pognante. In the day’s final match, Lambert/Pognante defeated 2nd seeds Polina Buhrova/Yevheniia Kantemyr 23-21 22-20.
The final semifinal spot belongs to the four-time champions and two-time silver medalists Gabriella and Stefani Stoeva. The Bulgarian sisters were up against Swedish siblings Moa and Tilda Sjöö, but the Stoevas proved far too solid, securing a convincing win.

Women’s Doubles Semifinals
• Gabriella Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva vs Debora Jille/Sara Thygesen
• Natasja P. Anthonisen/Maiken Fruergaard vs Margot Lambert/Camille Pognante

Tune in tomorrow as we find out who will reach the finals in mixed doubles and women’s doubles, and discover the remaining semifinalists in the other categories.

All matches are available to watch live and for free on BadmintonEurope.tv.