Wednesday at VICTOR China Open 2026 served a reminder that rankings sometimes count for little, as a trio of inspired performances sent fancied second and seventh seeds crashing out in Changzhou.

The biggest statement came from Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke, who produced his best victory in years to stun men’s singles second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-13 8-21 21-19. The world No.30 held his nerve after the deciding game reached 19-all, sealing his first win over the Thai world No.2 in three years and his first victory against a top-five player since defeating then world No.4 Li Shi Feng at the China Masters in November 2023.

“I kept fighting even after winning the first game. I believed in my game and somehow managed to stay in the match. When we got to the crucial points, I took my chances,” he said. “I tried to control the conditions out there. It’s not like I felt I controlled everything well but I gave it everything I had.

“Being aggressive was my only chance – try to win the points quickly and make him a little uncomfortable. I think I succeeded with that. Today’s my day and I’m so proud of my performance.”

Europe’s memorable day continued when Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen claimed his maiden victory over Li, overcoming the seventh seed 21-12 14-21 21-18 in his fourth attempt against the world No.7.

“I’ve had a lot of good games against him, whether it’s in the juniors or in the past so I knew I had the capability to win one game, but to do it in three, and in China, is unbelievable,” said the world No.24.

“Towards the end, I got quite tense because I wanted to finish, so there’s still many things I can learn from these top players. For Ireland to beat China, for me, it’s a big deal. I’ve always wanted to compete against the best so doing this gives me a lot of motivation, that players from small countries can overcome the cream of the crop.”

Earlier, Rachel Allessya Rose/Febi Setianingrum gained swift revenge over Jia Yi Fan/Zhang Shu Xian, defeating the women’s doubles second seeds 24-22 21-17 in just 37 minutes. The victory came only a week after the Indonesians fell to the same pair in the Japan Open first round.

Rose said lessons from that defeat proved decisive.

“We took away a lot of learnings from that match so today we just played to our strengths. The way we finished the first game, we had the momentum going into the second. That was crucial as it increased our confidence.”

Setianingrum added: “We came here wanting to prove we can beat them and we got what we wanted so we leave happy. We hope to be even better in the next match.”

→ Results (Day 2)

→ Order of play (Day 3)