Malaysia Open: PV Sindhu advances; Satwik-Chirag out of Malaysia Open

PV Sindhu advanced to the semifinals of the Malaysian Open Super-1000 tournament after her opponent Akane Yamaguchi retired hurt after losing the first game 11-21 in Bukit Jalil on Friday.Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty crashed out after a 10-21, 21-23 loss to Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri in the quarterfinals.Yamaguchi decided not to aggravate the right peroneal tendon injury she’s been suffering since 2023.Sindhu will face second seed Wang Zhi Yi of China, who downed Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia 21-17, 21-18. Sindhu has a 2-1 winloss record against Wang.World No. 1 An Se Young of South Korea and Chen Yu Fei of China also reached the women’s semifinals. An beat Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark 21-8, 21-9 and Yu Fei trounced Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 21-13, 21-14.Satwik-Chirag were up 18-14 in the second game but failed to close it as AlfianFikri drew level at 19-19. The Indians saved two match points at 20-19, 20-21 before hitting the shuttle out at 21-22.“We got a sizeable lead in the second but couldn’t convert it,” Chirag said.This is the first time in four years that the Indians failed to reach the semifinals of Malaysian Open.