P. V. Sindhu
Indian veteran P.V. Sindhu is into another semi-finals in the BWF World Tour as she eased past Denmark’s Amalie Schulz in the quarter-finals of the Hylo Badminton Open.
India are assured of a place in the finals with Sindhu scheduled to take on younger teammate Anmol Kharb in the semi-finals.
Lakshya Sen also advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals of the BWF Super 500 tournament after rallying from a game down to beat Finland’s Kalle Koljonen at the Saarlandhalle.
Second seed Sindhu, who was beaten in the Denmark Open last week by Korean An Se-young, made light work of Schulz in the women’s singles quarter-finals, winning 21-12, 21-10 in just 28 minutes.
The second seeded Sindhu never allowed the Danish shuttler to take the lead in either game and remained firmly in control throughout to seal a comfortable victory.
It was Sindhu’s second victory over Schulz in as many meetings. The two had previously faced each other in the Thailand Open round of 16 earlier this year, where Sindhu also won in straight games.
Anmol, meanwhile, prevailed 21-17, 18-21, 21-16 over sixth seed Unnati Hooda in a 68-minute battle between two of India’s rising stars.
Both 19-year-old’s were meeting for the first time on the BWF World Tour.
The opening game was evenly contested early on, with Anmol and Unnati locked at 6-all before the former eventually pulled away to take it 21-17.
Unnati responded strongly in the second game and opened up a 15-11 advantage. Anmol fought back to level the scores at 18-all, but Unnati reeled off the next three points to force a decider.
Unnati made the stronger start in the third game and led 6-3.
Having reduced the deficit to a point at 12-11, Anmol produced the decisive burst, winning eight consecutive points to surge 19-12 ahead. Unnati mounted a late comeback, but the deficit proved too large as Anmol closed out the contest 21-16.
Saturday’s semi-final will be the second senior meeting between Sindhu and Anmol. Sindhu won their previous encounter 21-17, 21-15 in the opening round of the Syed Modi International 2024.
Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong and Denmark’s Line Højmark Kjærsfeldt will contest the other women’s singles semi-final.
In men’s singles, seventh seed Lakshya rallied from a game down to beat Koljonen 14-21, 21-17, 21-13 in one hour and six minutes.
The opening game was finely poised at 6-all before Koljonen took control of the latter stages to move ahead in the contest.
Lakshya responded in the second game. The Indian held a narrow advantage from the outset and, despite Koljonen staying within touching distance, never allowed the Finn to draw level.
The deciding game was also closely fought initially, with the two players locked at 4-all. Lakshya then reeled off four consecutive points to seize the momentum and maintained his advantage to close out the contest.
The Hylo Open marks Lakshya’s first individual BWF World Tour semi-final since finishing runner-up at the All England Open in March.
The Indian will next face sixth seed Toma Junior Popov of France in the semi-finals.
Popov has won both of his previous senior meetings against Lakshya. The Frenchman edged the Indian 22-20, 19-21, 21-19 at the 2018 Thomas Cup before winning 21-11, 21-10 at the China Masters 2025.
QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Jonatan Christie (Ina) bt Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) 21-8, 18-21, 21-11; Lakshya Sen (Ind) bt Kalle Koljonen (Fin) 14-21, 21-17, 21-13; Anders Antonsen (Den) bt Ditlev Jaeger Holm (Den) 21-11, 21-13; Toma Junior Popov (Fra) bt Arnaud Merkle (Fra) 21-14, 21-15
Men’s doubles: Aaron Tai-Yap Roy King (Mas) bt Chiu Hsiang Chieh-Wang Chi-Lin (Tpe) 21-16, 21-17; Julien Mao-William Villeger (Fra) bt Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard (Den) 25-23, 21-14; Christian Faust Kjaer-Rasmus Kjaer (Den) bt William Kryger Boe-Rasmus Espersen (Den) 21-13, 21-11; Ben Lane-Sean Vendy (Eng) bt Chen Cheng Kuan-Liu Kuang Heng (Tpe) 21-18, 21-14
Women’s singles: Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) bt Zhang Weny Yu (Can) 21-19, 18-21, 21-17; P.V. Sindhu (Ind) bt Amalie Schulz (Den) 21-12, 21-10; Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt bt (Den) Kirsty Gilmour (Sco) 21-17, 21-13; Anmol Kharb (Ind) bt Unnati Hooda (Ind) 21-17, 18-21, 21-16
Women’s doubles: Gabriela Stoeva-Stefani Stoeva (Bul) bt Yeung Nga Ting-Yeung Pui Lam (Hkg) 21-18, 21-13; Lauren Lam-Allison Quynh Lee (USA) bt Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilysa Trias Puspitasari (Ina) 21-19, 21-10; Hsu Yin-Hui-Lin Jhih Yun (Tpe) bt Hsua Ya Ching-Sung Yu-Hsuan (Tpe) 21-16, 21-14; Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti (Ina) bt Stine Kuespert-Isabel Lohau (Ger) 21-7, 21-10
Mixed doubles:
Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) bt Marvin Seidel-Thuc Phuong Nguyen (Ger) 21-12, 21-11; Amri Syahnawi-Nita Violina Marwah (Ina) bt Ruben Garcia-Lucia Rodriguez (Esp) 16-21, 21-14, 21-19; Jesper Toft-Amalie Cecille Kudsk (Den) bt Callum Hemming-Estelle Van Leeuwen (Eng) 14-21, 21-14, 21-7; Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing (Mas) bt Chan Yin Chak-Ng Tsz Yau (Hkg) 21-17, 21-17
