Dane Anders Antonsen reached his first semi-final on the Superseries Tour as he beat world number 38 and local hope Sameer Verma in two games at the Yonex Sunrise India Open.

Antonsen, 19, won 24-22, 21-19 after 53 minutes of play to join his fellow countryman Viktor Axelsen in the semi-finals of the 325.000 Dollars tournament.

„I am extremely happy to have reached my first Superseries semi-final here in India! It was a great battle against Sameer Verma this evening. A very intense match where it was important to be brave in the right moments. I am proud to pull out as the winner“, Antonsen wrote on his official Facebook page.

“It was tense in the first game. I had a lot of set points but he managed to save them. I was expecting a tough match, his style is to play at a high pace and he doesn’t make many mistakes. I had to work hard for every point. It is great to have two Danes in the semis. We will do everything we can to play each other in the final“, Antonsen said to the BWF.

In tomorrow’s semi-finals Antonsen will take on Tien Chen Chou of Taiwan. „I lost a close match against him last time we faced, so  I am looking for a revenge!“

Viktor Axelsen battled past Tzu Wei Wang

European Champion Viktor Axelsen advanced to the last four stage as he beat Taiwanese Tzu Wei Wang in three games 19-21, 21-14, 21-16.

Axelsen will next face Ng Ka Long Angus on Saturday after the 6th seeded Hongkong Chinese edged Indonesian shuttler Tommy Sugiarto 10-21, 21-15, 21-19 in an hard-fought quarter-final.

Olympic Champion Carolina Marin has booked a semi-final showdown with Akane Yamaguchi after seeing off the challenge by Minatsu Mitani of Japan 21-10, 20-22, 21-14 in today’s quarter-finals.

“I am happy to come to India again. I just want to enjoy my game here and hope to win the title,” said the former world number one.

“I suffered and injury before the 2016 Rio Olympics and since then I have been trying my best to recover from it. After the Olympics, I aggravated my injury and it was very painful for me. It was very difficult period for me as I had to skip many tournaments. But I am fine now and am really happy to be here in India and want to do well at the tournament,” said Marin.

Denmark’s Mads Kolding and Mads Conrad eased past Korea’s Yoo Yeon Seong/Jae Swan Kim 21-10, 21-17 to reach the semi-finals. They will take on the current Yonex All-England Champions Marcus Fernaldo Gideon/Kevin Sukamuljo of Indonesia for a place in Sunday’s finals.

England's Chris and Gabby Adcock reached thesemi-finals with a 16-21, 21-15, 21-15 win over Thailand's Bodin Isara and Savitree Amitrapai. The victory sets up a last-four meeting with number two seeds Kai Lu and Yaqiong Huang. The Adcocks, seeded third in New-Dehli, were beaten by the Chinese pair in the semi-finals at the Yonex All England Championships earlier this month.

Recent India Open champions from Europe:

2015: Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen
2015: Joachim Fischer/Christinna Pedersen
2009: Pi Yongyan

CLICK HERE for all results of the Yonex Sunrise India Open 2017.

Article by Manuel Rösler. Photo (LIVE) by BadmintonPhoto.