French badminton continued to stay in the limelight, with Christo Popov and Alex Lanier progressing to the semifinals of the DAIHATSU Japan Open 2025.

While defending champion Lanier was authoritative in his quarterfinal victory over Chi Yu Jen, Popov outlasted home hope Kodai Naraoka in a marathon battle.

The seventh seed lost the plot from midway in the second game, with Popov emerging victorious at 18-21 21-13 21-8.

“I would say there were few long rallies that were very important, especially in the beginning of the second and third games, and I managed to win almost all of them, and that made a big difference mentally. I was tough for him to overcome. I played great today,” said Popov.

“I feel very proud of the French national team, it’s great to have Frenchmen playing at the top level and in the semifinals. (Lanier) played well and it’s amazing, and I hope we can share a podium, so let’s hope for that for France.”

Ong/Teo Break Lean Spell

Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi bounced back from seven successive first round losses, beating fifth seeds Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang to make the semifinals.

The Malaysians broke a streak of three successive losses to Liang/Wang for their best performance of the year so far, and their best since reaching the semifinals of the China Open last September.

The world No.30 pair survived a close first game and kept a narrow lead at the end of the second to close out the match 25-23 21-19.

“We’re excited about this win,” said Ong. “It’s a confidence boost for us.”

“We tried to fix the problem of making easy mistakes,” said his partner. “We fought them in close matches recently, so we tried to be more patient, and we were lucky today. We are surprised… we lost seven first rounds in a row, and it’s not easy to do that. So this means a lot to us.”

It was another good day for Malaysia, with top seeds Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin saving match point to beat scratch combination Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri. With both pairs in opposite halves, Malaysia will nurse hopes of an all-Malaysia final.

“To be honest, there was a lot of pressure on us,” said Goh. “It feels good we were able to make it today.”

Ong/Teo will take on third seeds Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae, who were tested by yet another Malaysian pair, Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun, before easing home 21-13 in the third. There was also the possibility of an all-Malaysian semifinal in the top half, with surprise quarterfinalists Nur Mohd Azriyn/Tan Wee Kiong very nearly getting past Liu Kuang Heng/Yang Po Han. The Malaysians were up a game and had four match points, but lost their way, and their opponents made their first Super 750 semifinal as a pair.

Other Highlights

» Top seed An Se Young was in pristine form, demolishing Chen Yu Fei to avenge her Singapore Open loss to her chief rival, 21-16 21-9. Up next will be home hope Riko Gunji, who surprised fourth seed Han Yue 21-17 21-10.

» Malaysia have a pair left in the mixed doubles (Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei) and women’s doubles (Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan) with both winning in straight games.

What They Said

“Becoming world No.1 has been my dream since I was a child. At the same time, there’s a bit of pressure, I wonder how I’ll manage to stay at the top. But I’ll give it my absolute best to hold on to this position.” – Kim Won Ho, on the Koreans’ likely elevation to No.1 in next week’s rankings

“I lost to Chen back in Singapore, of course that made me reflect on myself and try to review how Chen plays and work something on it. From there I try to find out what kind of things I needed to improve on and also make sure I don’t make the same mistakes again.” – An Se Young

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