Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue won the decisive mixed doubles encounter to help France to the European Mixed Team Championships final ©Getty Images

France and Denmark reached the final of the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships after claiming wins in the decisive matches of their semi-final encounters against Russia and Germany respectively.

France had beaten Russia 4-1 during the group stages of the tournament but were made to work harder during this knockout encounter for their 3-2 victory.

Russia won the opening match, the women’s singles, with Evgeniya Kosetskaya beating Qi Xuefei 21-19 21-14.

France responded in match two, the men’s singles, as Toma Junior Popov recovered from a game down to defeat Vladimir Malkov 14-21 21-17 21-15.

The third match, the women’s doubles, was another three game affair with Lea Palermo and Anne Tran of France overcoming Alina Davletova and Kosetskaya 21-18 23-25 21-11.

Russia replied again in match four, the men’s doubles, with Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov overcoming Ronan Labar and Julien Maio 21-13 21-10.

This meant the contest came down to the decisive mixed doubles and despite dropping the first game, it went France’s way, with Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue triumphing 18-21 21-15 21-9 against Rodion Alimov and Davletova.

Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark was among the winners for the defending champions as they beat Germany 3-2 in their mixed team semi-final ©Getty Images
Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark was among the winners for the defending champions as they beat Germany 3-2 in their mixed team semi-final ©Getty Images

The evening semi-final at Vantaa saw defending champions Denmark beat Germany 3-2, a scoreline that was the same during their meeting in the group stage of the event on Wednesday (February 17).

The first game of the match was the mixed doubles encounter with Mark Lamsfuss and Isobel Herttrich getting Germany off to a winning start as they overcame Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Bøje 21-18 21-17.

Match two, the men’s singles, saw Denmark level the tie thanks to a comfortable 21-13 21-8 for Viktor Axelsen over Max Weisskirchen.

Match three, the women’s singles, was a tighter affair with Denmark winning in three games as Mia Blichfeldt triumphed 21-17 12-21 21-16 against Yvonne Li of Germany.

Germany bounced back again taking a comfortable victory in the men’s doubles to level the tie as Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel won 21-19 21-5 against Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.

It all came down to the women’s doubles and in another three game affair Denmark were victorious with Maiken Fruergaard and Amalie Magelund beating Herttrich and Kilasu Ostermeyer 21-11 18-21 21-19.

France and Denmark are due to meet in the final tomorrow, with action scheduled to begin at 3pm CET.