PV Sindhu enters Malaysia Open semifinals after Akane Yamaguchi retires injured; Satwik-Chirag bow out

Kuala Lumpur: Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu advanced to the semifinals of Malaysia Open after her opponent Akane Yamaguchi of Japan retired due to injury, while India’s ace men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out of the Super 1000 badminton tournament in the quarterfinals here on Friday.

Pitted against third-seed Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals, Sindhu took the opening game 21-11 before the three-time world champion from Japan, who was wearing a knee brace, decided to pull out of the match.

The win took world No. 18 Sindhu’s head-to-head record to 15-12 against Yamaguchi.

Sindhu, who is competing in her first tournament after returning from a prolonged injury lay-off, will face second seed Wang Zhiyi of China in the semifinals.

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Wang defeated sixth seeded Indonesian Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-17, 21-18.

Satwik-Chirag lose

Later in the day, India’s two-time world championships bronze-medallist men’s doubles pair of Satwik and Chirag lost to lower-ranked Fajar Alfain and Muhammad Fikri of Indonesia 10-21, 21-23 in the quarterfinals in 47 minutes.

The third-seeded Indians, finalists in the Hong Kong Open and China Masters last year, were no match in the opening game with the Indonesians dominating with their powerful smashes.

After the Indonesian pair reeled off five straight points, the Indian duo finally opened their account. At 12-4, things looked dismal for Satwik-Chirag with Alfian and Fikri taking the last five points with ease to win the opening game.

The second game saw a more committed Indian pair slugging it out and managing to take a substantial lead on a few occasions.

Leading 18-14, Satwik-Chirag could not hold the advantage, allowing the opponents to draw level at 19-all. At 21-all, the Indonesians took the decisive last two points to win the contest.