SportsBadminton
Ashmita Chaliha stuns Akane Yamaguchi as she and Sindhu reach French Open quarter-finals
The unseeded Indian beat the Japanese third seed in straight games in Paris, Sindhu brushed past Riko Gunji, and Ayush Shetty retired hurt against Kodai Naraoka.
Key points
- Ashmita Chaliha beat third seed Akane Yamaguchi 21-19, 21-18 in 37 minutes.
- P V Sindhu beat Japan's Riko Gunji 21-12, 21-16 to reach the last eight.
- Ayush Shetty retired hurt trailing Kodai Naraoka; Tanvi Sharma lost to An Se Young.
Ashmita Chaliha produced one of the best wins of her career at the French Open on Thursday, beating Japan’s third seed Akane Yamaguchi 21-19, 21-18 to reach the women’s singles quarter-finals of the Super 750 event in Paris.
The unseeded Indian needed only 37 minutes to see off one of the leading players of the past decade. P V Sindhu joined her in the last eight with a 21-12, 21-16 win over Japan’s Riko Gunji, giving India two women in the quarter-finals of one of the season’s biggest tournaments.
Ashmita turns the tables
Ashmita, 27, had been well beaten by Yamaguchi only days earlier, losing 18-21, 10-21 at the Denmark Open. In Paris she kept the rallies tight and held her nerve in both close finishes, a performance that levels their head-to-head record at one win each.
She next meets the winner of the match between Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong and Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara for a place in the semi-finals.
Sindhu in control
Sindhu, the two-time Olympic medallist, had needed three games and a nervy finish to get past Supanida Katethong in the first round. Against Gunji there was no such drama. She led from early in both games and closed out the match in 44 minutes.
The run is a welcome one for Sindhu, who went out in the first round of the Denmark Open the week before.
Ayush and Tanvi go out
It was a harder day for India’s other singles players. Ayush Shetty, the 21-year-old who knocked out Kidambi Srikanth in the first round, retired hurt against Japan’s sixth seed Kodai Naraoka. He had led 16-11 in the opening game before losing it 17-21, and was trailing 6-11 in the second when he stopped. The nature of the injury has not been disclosed. It was his second defeat by Naraoka this year after a three-game loss at the Thailand Open in May.
Naraoka was in the second round only because Lakshya Sen withdrew from their first-round match, so India’s men’s singles interest in Paris is now over.
Tanvi Sharma also bowed out, beaten 11-21, 14-21 by world No. 1 and top seed An Se Young of South Korea. She led 4-1 in the first game and 9-6 in the second, but An pulled away both times to win in 37 minutes.
What comes next
The quarter-finals are on Friday. With Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty already out of the men’s doubles, Sindhu and Ashmita carry India’s hopes in the $950,000 tournament.