After a thrilling morning of quarterfinals, the semifinals loom large on the horizon as they are set to take place this evening.
As the sole remaining homegrown talent, Lianne Tan stands tall after Julien Carraggi's defeat to Dane Mads Christophersen, 18-21 22-24. Tan has dominantly secured straight-game victories throughout the week at the Belgian International, setting the stage for an upcoming clash with Neslihan Arın, the fourth seed, in today's semifinals.
The two players are only a few places apart in the world ranking — Tan is currently ranked 40 while Arın is 42 — and have not played against each other on the international stage since 2015. It will surely be a cool showdown between two of the strongest women’s singles candidates in this International Challenge tournament.
While Mads Christophersen heads to his first semifinal since the Denmark Masters back in June, sister Line Christophersen has also secured her spot on the podium with a win against France’s Xu Wei.
Still, France is in the race with other contenders. Top seeds Ronan Labar/ Lucas Corvee have won against Spaniards Ruben Garcia/ Carlos Piris with a resounding win, 21-12 21-13. Lucas Claerbout faced Christopher Vittoriani in today’s quarterfinals and despite the Italian player taking the match to three games, he retired halfway through the decider.