The quarterfinals have concluded at the YONEX Swiss Open 2024. For the European players, the quarterfinals started out difficult but as the day ended, it was a clear triumph.
Day Session
Lambert/Tran (FRA)
The first Europeans to take the center stage were Margot Lambert/ Anne Tran, who played against the number 1 seeded Apriyani Rahayu/ Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti. It was a difficult match where the Indonesians were leading the entire time. Just when the French caught up with them in the second game at 11-11, their adversaries turned up the level and ended the match 21-13, 21-13.
Bøje/Christiansen (DEN)
Alexandra Bøje/ Mathias Christiansen fought against Goh Soon Huat/ Lai Shevon Jemie in a match where Christiansen expressed that they had "no chance" of victory. The match ended 21-15, 21-10.
Watch the full interview here:
Magnus Johannesen (DEN)
At the same time, Magnus Johannesen played against Lin Chun-Yi, and after a close first game, the Chinese Taipei player created distance in the scoreline, with a final result of 21-18, 21-7.
Lane/ Vendy (ENG)
But just before the day session ended, Ben Lane/ Sean Vendy turned the way it was going for the Europeans around, and became the first Europeans to secure their spot in the semi-final.
"We studied our last match on how we beat them. (...) it gave us confidence."
In their interview, Lane/Vendy explained how they analyzed their previous matches against Lee Yang /Wang Chi-Lin and how it helped them secure their 21-18, 21-16 victory.
Click to watch how their match went here.
Night Session
After the success of Lane/ Vendy, it only continued up from there for the Europeans.
Tabeling/ Piek (NED)
Robin Tabeling/ Selena Piek gave everything and secured a hard-fought victory, their first ever against the Japanese pair Hiroki Midorikawa/ Natsu Saito.
"We played semifinals last year, we played semifinals last week, we hope to go a step further next time" was the sentiment from the smiling pair in their
post-match interview after their 21-19, 19-21, 21-18 victory.
Carolina Marin (ESP)
Carolina Marin had a tough game on her hands against Kim Ga Eun, whom she hasn't played since 2020.
She was able to make the Korean tired early on in the match, but that didn't mean it was an easy game for her. With 5 game points, the Korean was able to make the Spaniard sweat, but Marin closed the first game 21-19.
In the second game, it was back and forth, and suddenly it was 18-18. That was when Caroline showed why she was seeded as number 1, and closed the final game 21-18.
"I need to improve a lot."
In her interview, Marin expressed she felt like at some points her head wasn't 100% in the game. She also gave a lot of credit and respect to her opponent.
Watch match highlights here.
Watch the full interview here:
Rasmus Gemke (DEN)
After losing the first game to his Indian opponent Kiran George 21-23, Rasmus Gemke came back in the second game with confidence and secured a game where he was leading all the way through.
The final game was more tight; at one point, it was 10-10. However, Gemke was able to turn the gear up and had eight match points at 20-12. He was able to get the fourth matchpoint and ended the match at 21-18.
See who is playing who in the semifinals by clicking this link to the official BWF site