CLASH OF CLANS Arctic Open 2025 provided the stage for breakthrough performances as Arnaud Merkle and Anmol Kharb advanced to their first HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500 semifinals.

Kharb, 18, was the first to book her spot, extending her perfect record against Amalie Schulz to 3-0 with a commanding 21-15 21-14 win in 36 minutes. The Indian now faces a daunting match against three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi. The Japanese will also enjoy extra recovery time after her quarterfinal opponent Mia Blichfeldt retired halfway through the second game.

Merkle walked onto Court 2 right after Kharb to give French badminton another moment to celebrate this season by becoming the fourth men’s singles player from his country to reach the semifinals at a Super 500 or higher, following in the footsteps of Toma Junior Popov, Christo Popov and Alex Lanier.

Merkle, coming into the tournament on the back of winning the Dutch Open last week, carried over his momentum to defeat Singapore’s Jason Teh 24-22 21-18. Awaiting him in the last four is the second-seeded reigning champion Chou Tien Chen, who survived an 80-minute slugfest against Lu Guang Zu 15-21 21-17 21-18.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

• Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan continue their remarkable consistency this year, making their 10th semifinal of the campaign.
• Men’s singles fifth seed Kodai Naraoka is out after a 21-19 21-16 loss to Rasmus Gemke.
• Top seeds Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik are the only fancied men’s pair to advance; Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang and Chen Bo Yang/Liu Yi all fell to lower-ranked opponents.

→ Results (Quarterfinals)

→ Order of play (Semifinals)