Badminton
China Masters 2025: PV Sindhu bows out to World No.1 An Se Young in quarerfinal
Meanwhile, the men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to their 7th semi-final of the year.
PV Sindhu will play world no. 40 Letshanaa Karupathevan of Malaysia in the second round in Paris. (Photo credit: BAI)
India's No.1 PV Sindhu bowed out in the quarterfinals to world No.1 An Se Young of South Korea at the China Masters 2025 in Shenzhen, China, on Friday.
Sindhu was completely dominated by Young, who had a big lead throughout the match and was troubling Sindhu with her footwork and strokeplay.
This was the eighth meeting between the two players, where the young Korean shuttler has a perfect record, as Sindhu hadn't been able to find an answer to Young's gameplay.
This was Sindhu's first quarterfinal on the BWF World Tour since the India Open 2025 in January, which she achieved after two consecutive straight-game wins.
After a disappointing start to the year, Sindhu has finally been looking better in the last couple of months, clinching three wins against top 10 players and two quarterfinal finishes, including the World C'ships.
Her aim will now be to extend this slight comeback in form and make it to the finals of a few tournaments to somehow qualify for the BWF World Tour Finals 2025.
Meanwhile, the Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to their seventh semi-final of the year with a straight-game win, 21-14, 21-14.
The former world No.1 duo didn't face much trouble from the Chinese new pairing of Xiang Yu Ren and Hao Nan Xie, and hence reached their consecutive semi-finals within a month.
