14 April, 2024
Ben Lane and Sean Vendy were foiled by first seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the semi-finals of the European Championships in Saarbrücken.
Fresh from their Swiss Open victory last month, the third seeds went down to the 2018 European Champions from Denmark 21-19 21-7.
Lane and Vendy had earlier seen off Irish pair Joshua Magee and Paul Reynolds 21-15 21-14 before a thrilling 21-19 21-18 quarter-final victory over France’s Eloi Adam and Leo Rossi.
But the Danish pair currently ranked fourth in the world showed their class, progressing to a third European final.
Callum Hemming and Ethan van Leeuwen came close to joining Lane and Vendy in the final four but were thwarted by Danish duo Rasmus Kjaer and Frederik Sogaard 22-20 21-9 in the quarter-finals.
Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith also reached the last eight in the mixed doubles before the fifth seeds were undone by another top ranked Danish pair, as Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje ran out 21-15 21-18 winners.
Staying in the mixed doubles, Hemming and Estelle van Leeuwen were defeated in a deciding game in the second-round while Gregory and Jennifer Mairs also went the distance in their first-round defeat.
Chloe Birch and Estelle van Leeuwen ran women’s doubles second seeds Margot Lambert and Anne Tran close but exited at the second-round stage after a 21-10 22-20 defeat, while Abbygael Harris and Annie Lado went down 21-14 21-17 to eventual semi-finalists Bengisu Ercetin and Nazlican Inci of Turkey.
In the women’s singles, Freya Patel-Redfearn battled well against second seed Mia Blichfeldt in the second round before losing 21-16 21-8 after Lisa Curtin had fallen short in the first round.
Harry Huang was the final English shuttler in action. The 22-year-old lost 21-12 16-21 21-13 to fifth seed Rasmus Gemke in the second round of the men’s singles.
