The opening day of this year’s Denmark Open has just wrapped up, with many of Europe’s top athletes taking to the courts in Odense. At the bottom of this article, you can find all the results from matches featuring European participation.
Kirsty Gilmour produced what was arguably the biggest upset of the day, defeating Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in straight games. After the match, however, Gilmour admitted her emotions were mixed.
"I don't think Gregorias back are at full health, I am not intirely sure what her healthtrouble has been, but I think she is starting to work her way back, I am happy with some of the tactics that I implemented today, but I don't think it was a 100% Gregoria that we got today, but I still have to take advantage of that... I hope we will get full top 10 (in the world) Gregoria back."
Rasmus Gemke also started his Denmark Open campaign in strong fashion, defeating Wang Zheng Xing 21–19, 21–12.
"It always means a lot when you play on home soil, I always love to play here in Denmark, in front of the Danish crowd."
Gemke has carried over the momentum from last week’s Arctic Open, where he reached an impressive semifinal — his best result in quite some time.
"I played really solid last week, reaching a semifinal for the first time in a long time, I would say I came here with some confidence... I felt good in there, and I just feel the run is good right now."
In the next round, Gemke will face Christo Popov, the same opponent he met in the second round of the Arctic Open last week. Gemke won that encounter 21–19 in the deciding game, setting up what promises to be another exciting all-European clash on Thursday.
Results from Day 1
- Gabriela Stoeva / Stefani Stoeva vs Kavipriya Selvam / Simran Singhi 21–4, 21–11
- Paulina Cybulska / Kornelia Marczak vs Febriana Kusuma / Mailysa Puspitasari 4–21, 16–21
- Julie Macpherson / Ciara Torrance vs Rutaparna Panda / Swetaparna Panda 21–23, 21–17, 21–15
- William Kryger Boe / Christian Faust Kjær vs Kim Won Ho / Seo Seung Jae 11–21, 11–21
- Jesper Toft / Amalie Magelund vs Yuichi Shimogami / Sayaka Hobara 18–21, 19–21
- Christo Popov vs Lin Chun-Yi 21–13, 23–21
- Toma Popov vs Ayush Shetty 21–19, 17–21, 21–15
- Kirsty Gilmour vs Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21–7, 21–14
- Clara Azurmendi vs An Se Young 15–21, 9–21
- Alexander Dunn / Julie Macpherson vs Pakkapon Teeraratsakul / Sapsiree Taerattanachai 21–19, 21–17
- Callum Hemming / Estelle van Leeuwen vs Tang Chun Man / Tse Ying Suet 22–24, 11–21
- Rasmus Gemke vs Wang Zheng Xing 21–19, 21–12
- Mathias Christiansen / Alexandra Bøje vs Julien Maio / Léa Palermo 21–8, 21–8
- Mads Vestergaard / Daniel Lundgaard vs Kittinupong Kedren / Dechapol Puavaranukroh 17-21 22-20 21-18
Looking Ahead
Tomorrow brings another packed schedule of exciting matches with European interest. Last week’s Arctic Open champions Ben Lane and Sean Vendy will face a tough first-round challenge against Malaysia’s third seeds Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin.
Home favourites Anders Antonsen and Viktor Axelsen will also have challenging openers, meeting Anthony Ginting and Chou Tien Chen respectively — the latter arriving in Denmark fresh from a title win in Finland.
In men’s singles, Nhat Nguyen will take on India’s Lakshya Sen, while Polina Buhrova, the reigning BEC European Fan Player of the Year, faces Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan early in the morning.
The full Day 2 schedule can be found here. Stay tuned for live updates and highlights throughout the week on our social media channels.
