Christo Popov’s dream campaign at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2025 extended into the final day as he became the first French player to achieve the feat.

In the semifinals today, the world No.8 overwhelmed Kodai Naraoka with speed and precision, 21-19 21-8 – his first straight-games result of the week. It is his third final of the year, after previous finals at the YONEX Swiss Open and the YONEX French Open.

“Waking up this morning I was feeling very tired,” said Popov. “I was getting ready for a long match with Kodai, knowing his rally style. The first game was very important, being very long and winning that made me confident for the second game, and I got more aggressive. He made more mistakes and I got a huge gap at the beginning.”

To become the first Frenchman in the final was special, and Popov said it was all a new experience for him.

“Just to participate was a new thing, so every day is a new thing for me. I’m very happy about playing well. I’m happy to be healthy, almost pain free, which is good. It’s just positive now.

“One thought was getting out of the group stage, which would be a huge thing for me. Now I’m into the final, so am happy. But also I had a long period without competing, and that was a good thing for me to come this week to play against the top players during one week and also challenge ourselves to see where we are, and to prepare for the next season.”

Highlights

» Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto finally found a way past Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan after five straight losses, beating the Malaysians 21-19 21-13.

» Ratchanok Intanon had her chances against Wang Zhi Yi but the Chinese weathered the challenge in the second game before cruising through to her second successive World Tour Finals final, 15-21 21-17 21-11.

» Home mixed doubles pair Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping made their 10^th final this year beating Hiroki Midorikawa/Natsu Saito 22-20 17-21 21-11. The Chinese are in the hunt for their eighth title and are in their fifth straight final.

→Results (Semifinals)