Malaysia Open: Satwiksairaj-Chirag bow out in quarterfinals; Sindhu India's last ray of hope

Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], January 9 (ANI): Indian men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out of the ongoing Malaysia Open in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Satwik-Chirag lost 10-21, 21-23 to Indonesia's Fajar Alfian and Muhammed Fikri in the quarterfinals, as per ESPN.
In the first game, the Indonesian pair took control right in the start, heading into the break with a strong 11-4 lead, and they did not quite let it go as the first game ended in a one-sided manner by 21-10 in their favour.
The Indian star duo fared way better in the second game, and leads were exchanged right till the break. After the break, Satwiksairaj and Chirag showed glimpses of their domination to secure a 17-13 lead, but Fajar and Fikri fought back to level the scores and then got the match point at 20-19. 'Sat-Chi' managed to save three of these match points, but a wayward clear from Chirag and a net clip from Fikri helped Indonesia take the hard-fought game 21-23 and win the match.
Satwik and Chirag marched into the quarterfinals with a fine 21-18, 21-11 win over Malaysia's Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap in 39 minutes in their pre-quarters fixtures. It is the first time in four years that the duo has not made it to the semifinals of this tournament, having finished as runners-up in 2024.
India's two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu is the country's last ray of hope in the tournament.
Sindhu reached the semifinals of the ongoing tournament as the third seed, after Japan's Akane Yamaguchi retired hurt after losing the opening game 21-11, giving Sindhu a semifinals spot.
Sindhu's win against Yamaguchi means she will now face the winner of the match between China's Wang Zhiyi and Indonesia's PK Wardani, who will square off later on Friday. Sindhu, ranked 18, had outplayed eighth seed Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan to book her place in the final eight of the ongoing Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 1000 event.
The Commonwealth Games champion and Paris Olympics semifinalist, Lakshya Sen, could last only until the pre-quarters, losing to world No. 18 Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong, China, in 53 minutes, 22-20, 21-15. (ANI)