China Open 2026: Indian campaign ends in R16 as Sindhu, Lakshya, Ayush exit

India's PV Sindhu crashed out in the women's singles Round of 16 at the 2026 China Open Super 1000, going down to home favourite Chen Yu Fei in a contest which lasted 89 minutes on Thursday.

Sindhu, who had beaten Chen during her title winning run at the Japan Open Super 750 last week after the latter withdrew midway with a hamstring injury, started from where she had left off last week.

The Indian took the opening game 21-16 and then had four match points in the second to wrap up the contest in straight games.

Sindhu, however, failed to take advantage as Chen won six points in a row to win the second game 22-20 and force a decider.

The final game once again was a see saw battle with neither shuttlers leaving an inch but Chen, with fresher legs, had more gas left in the tank to win it 21-18 and knock the Indian out of contention.

Earlier in the first round, Sindhu had beaten fellow Indian Unnati Hooda 21-14, 9-21, 21-10 on Wednesday.

Later in the day, Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty also lost out their respective men's singles Round of 16 matches to bring an early end to the Indian campaign at the 2026 China Open.

While Shetty went down 21-15, 13-21, 20-22 after being a game up, Sen was outplayed 19-21, 11-21 by Victor Lai's Canada.