Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu entered the semi-finals of Malaysia Open 2026 while India’s premier men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out on Friday.
Sindhu won the first game against her familiar rival Akane Yamaguchi 21-11. Before the Japanese, who was wearing a knee brace, had to withdraw from the match.
The victory helped Sindhu improve her head-to-head record to 15-12. She will now face second seed Wang Zhiyi of China in the semifinals.
“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, Satwik and Chirag lost to lower-ranked Indonesians Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Fikri 10-21, 21-23 in the quarterfinals, lasting 47 minutes.