Christo Popov saved himself the prospect of having to deal with a nightmare in his singles debut at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals. With six of his seven match points against Anders Antonsen having slipped away – and having hurt himself in the process – Popov just about squeezed through the escape door in an entertaining Group A encounter.

Until the closing stages of the third game, it had gone well for the Frenchman. Playing a countering style that gave Antonsen little to work with and few outright openings, Popov frustrated the Dane to build a comfortable lead in the third, and was all set to take the match at 20-13.

A few quick rallies, and the pressure started to build as Antonsen ticked off the deficit. At 20-17, attempting to retrieve a shot at the net, Popov had a nasty fall and clutched his left leg in pain. However, he did shake it off and had to hold his nerve with Antonsen just a point away, before he finally captured the winning point to get his campaign off to a memorable start at 21-13 12-21 21-19.

“I feel pain, but I have no idea what happened,” said a relieved Popov. “I’ll have to stretch it and see how it feels tomorrow.

“It was very difficult, so I’m pretty happy to have made it; it was a very tough opening, and of course, I’m happy to have a really nice start. I made it tough for myself in closing the match after leading and having a big gap and so many match points, maybe I wouldn’t have slept if I hadn’t finished it. So yeah, it’s only shame on me.”

Given that Antonsen won his last event – the YONEX French Open – and has been in great form this season, Popov’s ability to stay ahead today in difficult conditions pleased him.

“Today I was a bit more focused because it’s a very special event and my debut here in the World Tour Finals. When I was training in the main hall in the last few days, honestly, I didn’t get nice timing on court and feeling with the shuttle. So it was more about me playing an okay game, and mentally being ready for having a very tough match from my side. And then I think maybe he was also not so well with the shots at the beginning. So it was like very weird rallies where both of us were making a lot of mistakes, but at the end, maybe I was also more solid and adapted a bit better today on court.”

Other Highlights

» World champions Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae survived a stiff test against Chiu Hsiang Chieh/Wang Chi-Lin before powering ahead after the midgame interval in the third, 21-19 23-25 21-14.

» Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik notched their first win in three matches against Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri, with the Malaysians edging the somewhat error-prone Indonesians 22-24 21-18 21-19.

» Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty had a slow start against home favourites Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang and were match point down before finding hitting their stride with a 12-21 22-20 21-14 victory.

→Results (Day 1)