He avenged his brother!
And in the most beautiful way.
Christo Popov won this Friday in the quarter-final of the English Open against the Japanese Koki Watanabe (21-17, 21-10), winner of his older brother Toma Junior the day before.
It is a historic success.
For the first time, a French team reaches the final four of a Super 1000, one of the 4 most prestigious tournaments in the world (the equivalent of the Grand Slams in tennis) after the European and World Championships.
An ideal result less than 5 months before the Paris Olympics.
After striking a big blow by winning the first title of his career on the World Tour at the German Open two weeks ago, the younger Popov (24th player in the world) lost last week in the first round of the French Open (750 tournament) against the Chinese Shi, winner of the tournament.
This new big performance brings him even closer to participation in the Paris Olympics where he is fighting with his brother for the only ticket to the men's individual tournament.
The verdict is scheduled for May 1.
“I'm super happy to have won this match, it wasn't the most physical match I've had.
But there was a lot at stake, you had to be concentrated and have a lot of consistency, says Christo Popov.
He played very well at the start of the first set.
I'm happy to have been able to respond to his game, adapt to the room and impose my game to be able to win in 2 sets.
It preserves my legs and it's a very good thing for tomorrow.
I'm very happy to be in the semi-final, it's historic for me but also for France.
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In the semi-final, the Habs will face the winner of the match between the Dane Viktor Axelsen (world no. 1) and the Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (world no. 5).
If Christo Popov has never beaten the Dane, he has one victory and one defeat against the Indonesian.
A big new challenge awaits the 22-year-old Frenchman.