German Open: Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto enter semi-finals

The Indian badminton mixed doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila advanced to the semi-finals of the 2025 German Open Super 300 on Friday.

Kapila and Crasto got the better off China's Gao Jia Xuan and Wu Meng Ying 21-14, 21-17 in straight games.

The Indians started off well in the match, opening up an early lead. Though they were tested at times by the Chinese pair, Kapila and Crasto remained undeterred for majority of it to enter the semi-finals.

Seeded eighth in the competition, Kapila and Crasto are the only Indians left in contention at the 2025 German Open.

They will now take on Indonesia's Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in the semi-finals.

Unnati Hooda exits

Meanwhile, the Indian women's singles shuttler Unnati Hooda suffered a hard fought loss in the quarter-finals.

Hooda, 17, went down 21-15, 23-25, 22-24 against a higher ranked Riko Gunji of Japan.

The Indian teenager faltered at crucial stages – she had multiple match point opportunities in the second game – but failed to convert.

Elsewhere, Rakshitha Sree Ramraj suffered a straight games 21-12, 21-12 loss to the experienced Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark in another women's singles quarter-finals clash.

Tasnim Mir, on the other hand, pulled out midway from her quarter-final clash against Thuy Linh Nguyen of Vietnam. The Indian won the first game 21-19 before surrendering the second 12-21.

Mir trailed 0-7 in the decider before she pulled out of the match.

Besides, India's contention in men's singles also came to an end as Tharun Mannepalli lost out to a higher ranked Toma Popov of France.

The 23-year-old Mannepalli shocked Popov to take the opening game 21-16. But that was all he could muster as he lost the next two games 17-21, 8-21 to bow out of contention.