Badminton
Taipei Open 2025: Unnati Hooda and Ayush Shetty advance to semi-finals
Ayush got the better of seventh-seeded Brian Yang of Canada in a tight three-game quarterfinal.
Unnati Hooda and Ayush Shetty reached the final four of the Taipei Open 2025. (Photo credit: BAI Media)
Young Indian shuttlers, Ayush Shetty and Unnati Hooda, continued their good run at the 2025 Taipei Open Super 300 Tournament by reaching the semifinals on Friday.
The 20-year-old Ayush came from behind to beat the seventh-seeded Brian Yang of Canada in a tight three-game quarterfinal (16-21, 21-19, 21-14) match that lasted for more than an hour and 10 minutes.
This was Ayush's first match against the former Pan-American champion and the Indian showed grit despite facing a niggle in the second game to force a decider after which he claimed victory.
Ayush, who earlier knocked out fellow compatriot Kidambi Srikanth in the second round, has his eyes set on a maiden Individual final on the senior BWF World Tour circuit.
This will be his second semi-final on the BWF world tour this year, after the Orleans masters, where his potential clash will be against the top-seeded Chou Tien Chen from the host nation.
Maiden S300 semi-final on foreign soil for Unnati
In the women's singles category, the 17-year-old Unnati Hooda also progressed to the last four of the tournament with a hard-fought three-game (21-8, 19-21, 21-19) win against home player Yi-Ting Hung.
This will be the second semi-final on the BWF World tour for Unnati, after the Syed Modi International in 2024 in India.
She will now take on the top-seeded Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan in the semi-final on Saturday.
