India’s star shuttler PV Sindhu has reached the semifinals of the women’s singles at the Malaysia Open after her Japanese opponent, Akane Yamaguchi, retired due to injury on Friday at the Stadium Axiata Arena.
Yamaguchi got knee injury
Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu was leading 21-11 when the reigning world champion Yamaguchi told the umpire she could not continue because of a knee injury. Yamaguchi had arrived at the court wearing a knee brace and struggled to move, making several unforced errors.
Sindhu finished firsr game in 12 minutes
Sindhu quickly took a 10-2 lead and wrapped up the first game in just 12 minutes. This win marks her first Malaysia Open semifinal in eight years and her first Super 1000 semifinal in three years. She will next face either Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani or China’s Wang Zhi Yi.
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Sindhu defeated Tomoka Miyazaki
Earlier on Thursday, Sindhu defeated 19-year-old Tomoka Miyazaki 21-8, 21-13 in 33 minutes to reach her first Super 1000 quarterfinal of the season.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in the quarterfinals
In men’s doubles, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy advanced to the quarterfinals after beating Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap 21-18, 21-11 in 39 minutes, extending their head-to-head record against the Malaysian pair to 4-0.
However, India’s women’s doubles team, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, suffered an early exit after losing 21-9, 21-23, 21-19 to Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspita Sari in the opening round.