On the 1st local time, Denmark's two-time Olympic champion Axelsen, who narrowly defeated Thomas Popov in three games, advanced to the men's singles final of the German Open Badminton Championships for the first time in his career. World No. 4 Viktor Axelsen defeated France's world No. 18 Thomas Popov 21-19, 17-21, 21-17 in the men's singles semifinals of the 2025 German Badminton Super 300 on Saturday after a hard-fought one-hour and 17-minute battle.

With a narrow victory over Thomas Popov in three games, Denmark's two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen qualified for the final of the German Open for the first time in his career.

This is the fifth meeting between the two sides, with Axelsen claiming his fourth victory. This is Axelsen's sixth appearance at the German Open since 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016 (a tournament at the Gold Grand Prix level before the BWF World Tour in 2018) and 2022, and his previous best result was reaching the semi-finals in 2022.

Axelsen will be aiming for his second title of the year in the final on the 2nd, having won his first title of the new year at the Indian Super 750 in January.