The drift may have dictated play all week at VICTOR China Open 2026 but on Saturday it carried Toma Junior Popov into uncharted territory.

The Frenchman battled from a game down to defeat eighth seed Victor Lai 14-21 21-12 21-15, earning his first victory over the Canadian in three meetings.

In the process, Popov became the first French singles player to reach a Super 1000 final. Just 24 hours earlier, the 27-year-old had broken new ground by becoming the first singles player from his country in 22 years – after Pi Hongyan in 2004 – to make the China Open semifinals.

“It’s my first time reaching this stage, so I’m trying to enjoy every moment and every second on court,” Popov said. “I’m delighted to represent France at this level.”

Conditions inside the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium proved as formidable as the opponent. With one end of the court heavily affected by the drift, survival from the “bad side” became almost as important as attacking from the good one.

“The biggest thing was to win as many points as possible because, as we saw, it was almost impossible to play from that side,” Popov explained. “The key was the front-court game and taking advantage of the easy mistakes.”

After the deciding game interval, Popov found the winning formula.

“The drift,” he smiled. “I managed to force Victor into making easy mistakes by using the drift to my advantage.”

The result marks another milestone for French badminton. Before Popov’s breakthrough, only mixed pair Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue had reached a Super 1000 final. Popov meanwhile, had never progressed beyond a Super 300 final and now finds himself one win from the biggest title of his career.

The world No.16 is not getting carried away.

“It’s not over yet, still one more step to go,” he said. “Right now I’m really proud, excited and I can’t wait to be back on court to try and take this record even further.”

Standing between Popov and an even bigger piece of history is Chinese Taipei veteran Chou Tien Chen, who defeated teammate Lin Chun Yi in straight games to set up Sunday’s title match.

→ Results (Semifinals)

→ Order of play (Finals)