Antonsen saves championship point as Danes sweep Arctic Open singles titles
Anders Antonsen edged Yushi Tanaka 27-25 in a deciding game and Mia Blichfeldt beat top seed Ratchanok Intanon as Denmark claimed both singles crowns in Vantaa.
Anders Antonsen saved a championship point on his way to winning the Arctic Open men's singles title on Sunday, beating Japan's Yushi Tanaka 16-21, 21-16, 27-25 in an 86-minute final in Vantaa, Finland.
His fellow Dane Mia Blichfeldt completed a singles double for Denmark by defeating Thailand's top seed Ratchanok Intanon 21-17, 21-13 in the women's final.
Antonsen's escape
The world No.6 lost the opening game to the world No.18 and needed extra points in the decider, where he recovered from a championship point down. According to Badminton Planet, it was Antonsen's second title of 2026 after the Thailand Open and his fourth successive win over Tanaka.
His path to the final included an emotional 21-11, 15-21, 21-16 semi-final win over his close friend Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia, who had come through qualifying. Antonsen told the BWF that before the deciding game his coach had told him to "man up, stop feeling sorry for yourself and fight your socks off".
Blichfeldt and the doubles finals
Blichfeldt reached the final with a dominant 21-11, 21-7 semi-final win over Japan's Nozomi Okuhara and then beat Intanon in straight games. Olympics.com described the title as a strong comeback from injury for the Dane.
In the men's doubles, Malaysia's Aaron Tai and Yap Roy King beat Lai Po Yu and Tsai Fu Cheng of Chinese Taipei 21-19, 21-19, according to Badminton Planet. The New Straits Times noted that Tai and Yap are a newly formed partnership. China won the other two doubles events: Chen Fan Shu Tian and Luo Xu Min beat Hsu Yin-hui and Lin Jhih-yun of Chinese Taipei 21-18, 21-19 in the women's doubles, and Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin beat compatriots Gao Jia Xuan and Wu Meng Ying 21-18, 21-16 in the mixed doubles.
Background and significance
The Arctic Open is a Super 500 event on the BWF World Tour with prize money of US$500,000. It forms the first leg of the autumn European swing, which continued this week with the higher-ranked Denmark Open in Odense.
Analysis: Antonsen's win gives Denmark a timely boost before its home tournament. BWF statistics note that he could become the first Danish man this century to win the Denmark Open men's singles three times.
What happens next
Most of the leading players moved straight on to the VICTOR Denmark Open, a Super 750 event running in Odense from 13 to 18 October.
Sources
Badminton Planet, "Anders Antonsen Wins 2026 Arctic Open", 11 October 2026: https://www.badmintonplanet.com/badminton-news/anders-antonsen-yushi-tanaka-arctic-open-2026-final.html
BWF World Tour (official), "Arctic Open: 'Welcome Back', Antonsen Tells Lee Post-Battle", 11 October 2026: https://bwfworldtour.bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2026/10/11/arctic-open-welcome-back-antonsen-tells-lee-post-battle/
Wikipedia, "2026 Arctic Open" (tournament details and champions; accessed 15 October 2026): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Arctic_Open
Olympics.com, "BWF Arctic Open 2026 badminton: Danish players celebrate title double as Mia Blichfeldt turns new mental approach into strong post-injury comeback", October 2026: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/bwf-arctic-open-2026-badminton-finals-mia-blichfeldt-anders-antonsen-results
New Straits Times, "Scratch pair Aaron-Roy King charge into Arctic Open final", October 2026: https://www.nst.com.my/amp/sports/badminton/2026/10/1552601/scratch-pair-aaron-roy-king-charge-arctic-open-final
BWF World Tour (official), "Smashing Stats: Denmark Open 2026", 13 October 2026: https://bwfworldtour.bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2026/10/13/smashing-stats-denmark-open-2026/