Unnati Hooda stuns fourth seed Ti Lin to enter Hylo Open Semifinals; Lakshya, Ayush exit

India’s Unnati Hooda continued her impressive run at the Hylo Open Super 500 badminton tournament, advancing to the women’s singles semifinals after a commanding win over fourth seed Hsiang Ti Lin of Chinese Taipei on Friday.

World No.34 Unnati displayed composure beyond her years to defeat Ti Lin, ranked 24th, 22-20, 21-13 in a 47-minute quarterfinal encounter.

The victory also helped the 17-year-old avenge her loss to the same opponent at the Malaysia Masters earlier this year.

With the win, Unnati has assured herself of a place in the final four and will next face either top seed Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia or Azerbaijan’s Keisha Fatimah Azzahra, who are meeting in the other quarterfinal.

Mixed results for Indian Shuttlers

While Unnati’s win brought cheer, it was a disappointing day for India’s men’s singles contingent. Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, and Kiran George all bowed out after hard-fought quarterfinal losses.

Lakshya went down to France’s Alex Lanier 17-21, 21-14, 15-21 in a close three-game battle, while Ayush lost narrowly to Finland’s Kalle Koljonen 19-21, 21-12, 22-20. Kiran George faced a tough challenge against world No. 5 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, losing 16-21, 10-21.

In the women’s singles, Rakshitha Sree Ramraj also exited after a 7-21, 19-21 defeat to Denmark’s Line Christophersen, wrapping up a mixed day for the Indian contingent at Saarbrücken.