Malaysia Open: PV Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag Secure Quarterfinal Spots

India's star shuttler PV Sindhu produced an impressive performance on Thursday, defeating higher-ranked Japanese opponent Tomoka Miyazaki to book her spot in the women's singles quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 badminton tournament. Former world champion Sindhu, returning after a long injury lay-off, defeated the eighth-seeded Miyazaki 21-8, 21-13 in 33 minutes. However, it was curtains for ace Indian men's player Lakshya Sen and young Ayush Shetty who both lost at the pre-quarterfinal stage.

Top men's pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who won a second bronze at world championships last year, also sailed into the quarterfinals with a 21-18 21-12 win over Malaysia's World No. 17 Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap in 39 minutes.

The former World No. 1 Indians, who reached the finals of Hong Kong Open and China Masters in 2025, thus extended their head-to-head record against the Malaysian pair to 4–0.

The Asian Games champions will next face the winners of the clash between Chinese Taipei's Chen Zhi Ray/Lin Yu Chieh and sixth seeds Fajar Alfian/Fikri Muhammad of Indonesia.

Sen, who had broken the three-year jinx of first-round exits in the tournament when he defeated Singapore's Jia Heng Jason Teh on Wednesday, succumbed in the pre-quarterfinals against Hong Kong-China's Lee Cheuk Yiu 22-22, 15-21 in 53 minutes.

Shetty went down fighting against top seed Shi Yu Qi of China 18-21, 21-18, 12-12 in a 70-minute slugfest.

It was Sindhu, 30, who continued to impress on comeback by notching her second win against Miyazaki to take her career head-to-head to 2-1 against the Japanese teenager.

Sindhu raced to a 5–1 lead and then reeled off 13 consecutive points to surge to a commanding 18-4 advantage, before comfortably closing out the opening game in no time.

The second game was also largely one-sided, though the 19-year-old Miyazaki briefly stayed in touch trailing by just a point at 8-9. However, Sindhu drew on her vast experience to pull away with a six-point lead at 17–11 and wrapped up the match with ease.

Sindhu will take on the winner of the pre-quarterfinal game between China's Gao Fang Jie and third-seeded Japanese Akane Yamaguchi.

Earlier on Wednesday, the former world No 1 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, saw off Chinese Taipei's Yang Po-Hsuan and Lee Jhe-Hue 21-13 21-15 in 35 minutes to also enter the men's doubles pre-quarterfinals.

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Topics mentioned in this article

PV Sindhu Badminton Lakshya Sen Chirag Shetty