Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag secure quarterfinal spots

Star shuttler PV Sindhu produced an impressive performance, defeating Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki to book her spot in the women’s singles quarterfinals but India’s challenge ended in the men’s singles at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 badminton tournament here on Thursday. Former world champion Sindhu, returning after a long injury lay-off, defeated the eighth-seeded Miyazaki 21-8, 21-13 in 33 minutes.

Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, will take on third-seeded Japanese Akane Yamaguchi, a three-time world champion, who defeated China’s Gao Fang Jie 21-11 4-21 21-17 in another match. 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 number 17 Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap in 39 minutes. 

The former World number 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. However, it was curtains for ace Indian men’s player Lakshya Sen and young Ayush Shetty who both lost at the pre-quarterfinal stage.

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 to Hong Kong’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. Sindhu vs Miyazaki: 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.

In the doubles clash, Satwik and Chirag seized early control, opening up a 6-3 lead before stretching it to 12-9. The Malaysians responded with three straight points to close the gap, but the Indians quickly reasserted themselves to move ahead 16-12.

Junaidi and Roy briefly threatened a turnaround when they edged ahead 18-17, only for Satwik and Chirag to shut the door decisively, reeling off four points on the trot to pocket the opening game. In the second game, the Malaysians stayed in touch till 8-8. From there, the Indians stepped up the tempo, pulling away to 11-8 at the interval and then 15-9 before cruising to a comfortable finish.