PV Sindhu progressed to the semifinals of the Malaysia Open after her opponent, Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, retired due to injury. Meanwhile, India’s top men’s doubles pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag
Shetty, exited the Super 1000 badminton tournament in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Facing third-seed Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals, Sindhu won the first game 21-11 before the three-time world champion from Japan, who was wearing a knee brace, withdrew from the match.
This victory improved Sindhu’s head-to-head record against Yamaguchi to 15-12. Competing in her first tournament after a long injury lay-off, the two-time Olympic medallist will now face second seed Wang Zhiyi of China in the semifinals. Wang defeated sixth-seeded Indonesian Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-17, 21-18.
Sindhu has looked in brilliant touch in the tournament so far, giving her fans hope of lengthening her career.
“It’s one day at a time. But yes, I’ll be playing a couple of more years,” she told BWF after the previous match, where she beat World No 9 Tomoka Miyazaki. “Today I was prepared and ready for her long rallies and strokes. Overall it was important to be on court and be alert all the time and give my 100 percent. Because it was my first tournament of the season.”
Later in the day, India’s two-time world championships bronze-medallist men’s doubles pair, Satwik and Chirag, lost to lower-ranked Indonesians Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Fikri 10-21, 21-23 in the quarterfinals, lasting 47 minutes.
The third-seeded Indians, finalists in last year’s Hong Kong Open and China Masters, struggled in the opening game, with the Indonesians dominating with powerful smashes.
After the Indonesian pair scored five consecutive points, the Indian duo finally opened their account. At 12-4, Satwik-Chirag faced a challenging situation as Alfian and Fikri comfortably secured the last five points to win the opening game.
The second game featured a more determined Indian pair, who managed to take a substantial lead on several occasions. Leading 18-14, Satwik-Chirag couldn’t maintain their advantage, allowing their opponents to draw level at 19-all. At 21-all, the Indonesians claimed the final two points to win the contest.
