Japan Open 2026: PV Sindhu storms into semifinals

PV Sindhu reached the semifinals of the Japan Open 2026 in Tokyo on Friday (Jul 17) after Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara pulled out of their quarterfinal match. The Indian star has now reached her third semifinal of the season after earlier making the last four at the Malaysia Super 1000 and Australia Super 500 tournaments. This is also Sindhu’s first Super 750 semifinal since the 2023 Denmark Open.

The 31-year-old will now face China’s Chen Yufei, the Tokyo Olympic champion and world No. 4, as she looks to win her first title of the season. Sindhu trails Chen 6-8 in their overall head-to-head record.

Chen has beaten Sindhu in each of their last five meetings, giving the Indian a chance to end that run. A win would also take Sindhu to her first Super 750 final in nearly three years.

Earlier, she booked her place in the quarterfinals with a convincing 21-16, 21-14 victory over world No. 5 Han Yue of China in just 35 minutes.

Chen, 28, has been in excellent form this season. She won the Indonesia Masters and finished runner-up at the Thailand and Malaysia Super 500 events.

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She has also reached the semifinals of the Singapore Open, India Open, Malaysia Open and the All England Championships.

India’s campaign in the other events came to an end, as in mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto lost 20-22, 17-21 to China’s Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping in the pre-quarterfinals.

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In women’s singles, Unnati Hooda was knocked out by Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu-Hsun despite taking the second game.

India had already exited the men’s doubles competition on Tuesday. Both Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and MR Arjun and Hariharan Amsakarunan, lost in the opening round, with Satwik and Chirag also facing another injury setback.