Having also faced Lei Lan Xi last week in the Round of 16 at the Japan Open, Christo Popov came into today’s match against the Chinese player with their head-to-head tied at 3-3. And the Frenchman delivered once again, taking a confident 21-13 21-8 win.

“It’s my first win in China Open, I’m pretty happy about that. I would say that like last week, I managed to play some good badminton, but today it was actually about the conditions,” Popov explained, referring to what he described as one side of the court being very fast and the other very slow. With his opponent starting on the trickier side, Popov still had to keep up the pressure in the second game to get the win.

After reaching the semifinals last week in Tokyo, the French player admitted the finish had been both frustrating but also motivating ahead of this week’s even bigger challenge. “I was definitely very frustrated, also in the way it ended. But overall, it was a good week and it’s good to continue here in China Open with this confidence and having good level. I would like to continue with this effort for the week.”

Also on the French side, Toma Junior Popov secured his first-ever international win over Alex Lanier, ending the Japan Open runner-up’s run early in Changzhou. Read more about the match here.

To close out the day, the Popov brothers also secured a win together in men's doubles. They defeated Canada’s Kevin Lee/Ty Alexander Lindeman in straight games, 21-17 21-14, and will therefore be competing in the second round both in singles and together in doubles.

The other two European wins today came from Denmark. Second seed Anders Antonsen bounced back from a first-round exit last week with a straight-game win over Japan’s Yushi Tanaka, 21-19 21-15. He’ll face Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi in the next round.

Mads Vestergaard/Christine Busch needed three games to get past England’s Callum Hemming/Estelle Van Leeuwen. While the Danes led the head-to-head, the English pair had claimed their first win over Vestergaard/Busch in their last meeting in 2024. This time, after losing a tight opener 21-23, the Danes responded taking the next two games 21-13 21-18.

The second round begins tomorrow and you can see the full order of play here.