The World Championships quarter-finals day saw four players/couples from the European continent advancing to the last four in the Ballerup Superarena. It was Spain's Carolina Marin who ended her country's long wait for a first badminton world championship medal on Friday when she reached the semi-finals of the women's singles in Copenhagen, assuring herself of at least bronze.

Marin, the reigning European Champion, fought back to beat Taiwanese eighth seed Tai Tzu-ying 19-21, 21-19, 21-11 to secure a place in the last four where she will meet Indian teenager P.V. Sindhu.

Read our World Championships preview: "Jørgensen and Marin lead Europe's singles challenge"

"This is not just for me but for all of Spain, my coaches and the federation," said Marin, the world number 10. "Some people came over to support me from Spain and that's nice. One of my goals was to get a medal and I've done that.

"The crowd here was all supporting the European players. They really support me and it feels great."

Viktor Axelsen at his best

Viktor Axelsen, the 2014 European bronze medalist, is showing his career's best performance so far. The lanky Dane beats Tien Chen Chou of Taiwan in two straight games 21-14, 21-14 and is through to the semi-finals where he will face world number one and Malaysian hero Lee Chong Wei.

"What a day for me! After another win this evening, a World Championships medal is now a reality. I'm really happy and proud to be among the last four in a tournament like this. Thanks for all the amazing support, wrote Axelsen on his official facebook account.

2012 European Champions and men's doubles third seeds Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen proved too good for China's Xiaolong Liu/Zihan Qiu (#8). The Danes stormed into the semi-finals due to a 21-8, 21-17 victory in just 40 minutes.

" We are so happy to have reached the semi-finals here in Copenhagen. We played an almost flawless match today and didn't give the Chinese any chances to get back in the match. We enjoyed playing in a packed Ballerup Super arena and we are thankful for the support we got from the crowd", said Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen, who'll play Koreas number one duo of Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeong Seon.

In today's very last match, Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersens secured the third Danish spot in tomorrow's semi-finals. The reigning European Champions showed great fighting spirit and beat Jordan/Susanto of Indonesia in three games 21-12, 20-22, 21-18
 
Click here for today's quarter-finals results.



Photo by BadmintonPhoto.