Australian Open 2026: PV Sindhu crashes out in semis to top seed Akane

Indian star shuttler PV Sindhu bowed out in the women's singles semi-finals of the 2026 Australian Open Super500 Tournament in Sydney on Saturday.

She put up a good fight in first game but still faced a straight-game 20-22, 12-21 defeat to the top-seeded and world no.3 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan.

This was the 29th meeting between the two veteran players, where the Japanese shuttler now closed out the deficit in their head-to-head record to 14-15.

Sindhu had a good start to the game and was also leading 11-9 at the mid-game interval, but then after the break, she completely lost her composure.

And then, she conceded six consecutive points after having multiple unforced errors. She, however, continued the fight and forced extra points in the game.

Despite this late comeback, Akane kept her edge and clinched the first game 22-20 and then rode on this momentum to dominate the second.

The 30-year-old Indian failed to induce another comeback and lost in straight games, ending India's campaign as she was the lone semi-finalist here.