09.30 pm: That will be all from us on this blog, join us tomorrow on for live updates from the finals, the headline act being Lakshya Sen vs Loh Kean Yew.
PV Sindhu’s post-match reaction:
About the match : From my side, I gave her a huge lead in the beginning. Second set I won, and then the third set it was like 6-6 (5-5 actually) and from there I left the lead, after that I should have taken two three points when she took the lead. But she finished it off from there. Obviously, she is a good player. I played against her in Bali, as a left-hander, really good. Her strokes are really very deceptive. Overall I should have controlled the shuttle even more is what I felt.
What was different from the previous meeting in Bali that she won: In the previous match in Indonesia, it was more like my smashes were actually going into the corners or on the line but this time when I went for corners, it went out or mid-court. That gave her a chance to actually attack, that went wrong is what I felt.
Was training fine after Worlds: Yeah [training after Worlds] was fine, I mean. Today was just not my day, she played well. Overall I would say I just have to go and work on my mistakes. It was fine, in the end I have given her more chance to attack and my tosses, my clears were actually going mid-court so she was able to finish the points.
— via BAI / BWF
Women’s singles semifinals, PV Sindhu 14-21, 21-13, 10-21 Supanida Katethong: That’s surely got to feel like a massive missed opportunity for Sindhu. Coach Park has mentioned recently that she’s tired after the end of last season but this was a tournament she’d have liked to win to end that title wait. Even the coach had said it was important to win titles. With Busanan in the final, against whom she had a great record, it was there for the taking. But Supanida had other ideas.
Women’s singles semifinals, PV Sindhu 14-21, 21-13, 10-21 Supanida Katethong: UPSET COMPLETE! Supanida Katethong has done it! PV Sindhu has been knocked out after a brilliant performance from the Thai left-hander. Her wait for a World Tour title continues for a bit more.
Women’s singles semifinals, PV Sindhu 14-21, 21-13, 10-19 Supanida Katethong: Another straight smash for a winner. HUGE LEAD. Sindhu finally has the serve back with a good crosscourt winner but gives it right back.
Women’s singles semifinals, PV Sindhu 14-21, 21-13, 9-16 Supanida Katethong: Supanida on fire at the moment. Sindhu trails 9-15 and just seems to be running out of steam as well. And then an unsuccessful review.
Women’s singles semifinals, PV Sindhu 14-21, 21-13, 7-11 Supanida Katethong: Once again in this match, Sindhu under pressure from Supanida. Every time the Thai left-hander has attacked with her straight smashes, Sindhu has found herself on the back foot. Trails 7-11, change of ends.
Women’s singles semifinals, PV Sindhu 14-21, 21-13, 6-8 Supanida Katethong: “She has really got her confidence back hasn’t she?” Supanida is in good flow again. Great precision in her strokeplay. Sindhu, as she tends, trying to egg herself on vocally when she can.
Women’s singles semifinals, PV Sindhu 14-21, 21-13 Supanida Katethong: This is certainly a close match. 5-5 in the early exchanges.
Women’s singles semifinals, PV Sindhu 14-21, 21-13 Supanida Katethong: PV Sindhu needed a response and we saw a response. Some signature attacking strokeplay from the Indian star in the second half of the second game. We have a decider!
(The scoreline has been corrected in the previous tweets)
Women’s singles semifinals, PV Sindhu 14-21, 15-12 Supanida Katethong: Sindhu trying to clearly move Katethong diagonally as much as possible but the Thai is still matching up to the challenge. Really really good tactical battle this is turning into. Sindhu just starting to impose herself a bit more... 14-11. The commentator’s “There you go!” for a Sindhu smash at 14-12 was perfectly timed. If she does go on to win this one (far distance) that would be a point to reflect on.
Women’s singles semifinals, PV Sindhu 14-21 11-10 Supanida Katethong: PV Sindhu in the lead at the mid-game interval of the 2nd game. 11-10! Some high quality badminton on display at the moment.
Women’s singles semifinals, PV Sindhu 14-21, 9-7 Supanida Katethong: Sindhu’s plan is now to play the corners of the court more often. More crosscourt shots... working better but SK is still not going away. Playing some smart shots herself.
Women’s singles semifinals, PV Sindhu 14-21 Supanida Katethong: PV Sindhu is in a spot of bother! The left-hander from Thailand, Supanida Katethong has taken the first game. But Sindhu did get better as the game went on, so will hope to start better here.
Women’s singles semifinals, Sindhu vs Katethong: Sindhu trying to play catch up at this point but she is finding her footing.
Men’s doubles semifinals, India 21-10, 21-18 France Satwik-Chirag into the final! A few match points saved by the French pair but the Indians are through to the final in straight games. A brilliant battle awaits against top seeds Ahsan-Setiawan.
Men’s doubles semifinals, India 21-10, 20-18 France: And then another sensational sliding retrieval on match point (didn’t win that point too!) by Chirag. But some awesome defence on display by the senior man. Three match points have come and gone though.
Men’s doubles semifinals, India 21-10, 19-15 France: Just a couple of careless errors from the Indians here but the match is all but done. Need to steady themselves a little bit. Oh brilliant tweener by Chirag in a 29-shot rally but it finishes with an error. And another point to the French.
Men’s doubles semifinals, India 21-10, 16-10 France: Attacking game wise, Satwik-Chirag obviously at a different level in this match but lovely to see moments of brilliance on the defence as well from them. Little scary there as Satwik seemed to get his foot stuck on the side of the court. Break in play as it is being attended to. Since that little break too, the Indians have just kept up the lead.
Men’s doubles semifinals, India 21-10, 11-6 France: As in the second half of the first game, it is much more even at the moment. Satwik’s turn to play a BRILLIANT defensive point in that phase of play. The French are trying to attack more but the Indians are up for the task.
Men’s doubles semifinals, India 21-10 France: Satwik-Chirag have clinched the first game in double quick time against the French pair. Great start, but it got a bit more even in the 2nd half. Satwik’s power has been on full display but Chirag was terrific on defence in a rally at the end. Good all round game.
Lakshya Sen to BWF: “It’s a good feeling to be playing the final. I expected to do well in this tournament as I’ve been having a good run. Since the first match my touch has been good. The first game was pretty intense, both of us were playing at a high pace. It is quite similar to the way I played yesterday. I made a few errors in the first. The key was to play fast and play consistently and make him work on court.”
Men’s doubles semifinals, India 11-2 France: Satwik-Chirag have started this match like they are in a hurry to get somewhere! A 11-2 lead in the opening game.
Men’s doubles semifinals, India vs France: Can Satwik-Chirag reach the final where the former world champs Ahsan-Setiawan await? A first meeting on tour against the French world No 55 pair Delrue/Villeger. The Indians are off to a fiery start! 7-2 lead.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 24-26, 9-21 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: Once that first game went Busanan’s way, it was going to be a monumental task for Aakarshi Kashyap. She competed well but in the end. Those game points! But that’s the way it goes. Great experience for the 20-year-old. 22 mins for a game of 21-9 also shows it wasn’t all that easy for the 2nd seed, who was made to work mighty hard.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 24-26, 9-19 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: Good rally but once again, Busanan is at the net at the right time to kill it off.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 24-26, 9-18 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: Big roar from Busanan as she follows up nicely at the net, tells you she needed that. AK gets the serve back and gives it right away, and another error right after. Finish line in sight for the second seed.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 24-26, 8-14 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: Best rally of the match in terms of point construction by both the players. 29 shots, and it goes Busanan’s way! Good stuff from both the shuttlers on defence, both feeling the effects of it at the end.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 24-26, 8-13 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: And Aakarshi fights back after the interval. Needed that break it seems... playing more freely again, five straight points to close the gap to 8-11. Busanan under pressure and she is pleased to get the serve back, plays a good point at the net to push ahead.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 24-26, 7-11 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: Credit to AK. Three straight points in a row after the interval, the third a nice DTL smash. And then a good steady rally, results in an error from the Thai.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 24-26, 3-11 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: The second seed has figured out there is not much point in rallying with AK here. She is bringing out the slices, drops and deceptions... the Indian youngster being pushed around the court and struggling to keep up.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 24-26, 3-9 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: And as it so often happens, errors at the start of the second game after that opening game heartbreak. But to her credit, AK has managed to find a footing quickly. Oh then misjudges the line! Review wasted too. The Thai is moving the Indian to all four corners now and the points are flowing.
Here’s how the first game panned out:
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 24-26 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: How often we see this! Aakarshi did brilliantly to force 5 game point chances, Busanan kept fighting back and after a brilliant rally, converts her first game point. That must be a tough one to take for the Indian youngster but she needs to recover quick.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 24-25 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: Bad service return error and first game point for Busanan.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 24-24 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: Another brilliant winner from Aakarshi and it is Busanan constantly on the backfoot here. 23-22 for the Indian, but Busanan saves it again with a smart return of serve! 4th game point gone. Aakarshi with a nonchalant forehand block winner and that game point is saved by Busanan with a smart slice drop! What a battle.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 22-22 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: A 26-shot rally at 20-20! She sees that as her strength. And Aakarshi does superbly to have a second game point. 21-20... superb stuff from the Indian, but needs to close this out. Error off the next point. We carry on, 21-21. Great fight from the Indian youngster, she plays a good 1-2 punch to have a third game point. But that is saved too by the Thai.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 20-20 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: Nice proactive play by the Indian and she has a game point but Busanan saves it.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 19-19 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: Body smash from Aakarshi and we are level at 19. The Indian needed after a couple of errors.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 18-18 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: A push to the backcourt from Aakarshi lands in and she has a two-point lead but Busanan levels things again with a DTL winner followed by an error from the India.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 16-16 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: The Thai is finding her range now and starting to dictate points. Three straight points to level things just as the Indian was starting to push ahead.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 11-8 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: Aakarshi Kashyap builds on her good start, takes a 11-8 lead into the interval. Time for a quick word with her coach on the chair DK Sen. A flurry of errors from the Thai shuttler just before the interval which comes at a good time for her.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 8-6 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: A nice defensive backhand winner at the net from the Indian but she follows that up with an unforced error. Busanan then gives the serve back trying to play an acute winner at the net.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap 4-4 Busanan Ongbamrungphan: Steady start from Aakarshi, a 26-shot rally well constructed to take a small early lead. Another good rally, this time it goes Busanan’s way. 4-4 in the early exchanges.
Women’s singles semifinals, Aakarshi Kashyap vs Busanan Ongbamrungphan: Aakarshi Kashyap, after her win over Malvika Bansod, takes on 2nd seed Busanan for the first time on the circuit. A confident young Indian shuttler who has a strong rally game and idolises the likes of Tai Tzu Ying, Chen Yufei (along with Sindhu and Saina of course), looking to make a mark.
And the top-seeded Daddies are into the final. Satwik-Chirag, second seeds, will look to join them a bit later. Aakarshi Kashyap up next against second seed Busanan.
Here’s how the third game panned out:
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 21-16, 21-12 Ng Tze Yong: Great win for Lakshya, and a fantastic final in prospect against World Champion and his partner from training stint with Axelsen in Dubai. Loh vs Lakshya will be lovely.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 21-16, 21-12 Ng Tze Yong: LAKSHYA SEN INTO THE FINAL! On his debut at the event. Another brilliant come-from-behind win (like he had to against HS Prannoy) for the Indian in what was a thoroughly entertaining match of men’s singles badminton against Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 21-16, 15-10 Ng Tze Yong: Just as Ng was starting to close the gap, LS pulls ahead.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 21-16, 15-10 Ng Tze Yong: Lakshya Sen is running away with this now! Superb attacking play in general but also won a crucial point with some sensational defending a little while back. A 14-7 lead for the Indian in the decider. But Ng trying to find one final push, some big smashes from him there to make it a 5-point game.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 21-16, 11-6 Ng Tze Yong: No let up from Lakshya at the moment. Seems like he senses he has the physical edge and is making it count.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 21-16, 9-5 Ng Tze Yong: What. A. Rally! Lakshya, who has been going all out attack for a while, with some sensational defence there. Brilliant to stay in the point. 8-5 in the decider. And then, brings out the big gun again with a crosscourt smash. Mixing it up brilliantly. Mind you, Ng has played three long matches. LS might have a bit more fuel in the tank.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 21-16, 5-3 Ng Tze Yong: A good start to the decider for LS and but a lucky net chord helps Ng close the gap down to 1. Then a booming DTL smash from LS.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 21-16 Ng Tze Yong: DECIDER! Lakshya Sen moves through the gears brilliantly after trailing 9-11 at the interval and clinches the 2nd game 21-16. Some booming smashes coming in from the Indian in that phase. He has been speaking a lot about patience but he turned that second game around with a series of high-risk, high-reward shots. A great phase of attacking play from him. Been a great match.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 19-16 Ng Tze Yong: Lakshya retakes a three-point lead at the business end. A fantastic forehand drive to go to 19! Another round of applause from what seems like a group of players who are cheering him on.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 15-14 Ng Tze Yong: Lakshya really needed this phase after the interval. A 15-12 lead just when it seemed the momentum was with Ng. Oh, just as we say that two errors from Lakshya, trying too hard to kill the points off. A wasted review to boot.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 9-11 Ng Tze Yong: Lakshya would dearly want to take back the last three points, two big errors and one point where he was a sitting duck. Ng has the lead at the interval, Lakshya needs a big turnaround.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 9-9 Ng Tze Yong: Lakshya just hasn’t had the answer to NG’s smashes so far. And that is true for the other side too, actually. Both players smashing the heck of the shuttles every chance they get. But a big error at the net from the Indian, back level.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 7-7 Ng Tze Yong: Thoroughly enjoyable this.. both players throwing the kitchen sink at each other. 6-6 in the 2nd game. Couple of up-tempo points from the Indian to sneak ahead and then a massive smash by the Malaysian.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21, 4-4 Ng Tze Yong: Seem there is a mini player contingent at the venue cheering on LS. He was under pressure early on in the second game, down 1-4 but levels things up at 4-4.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 19-21 Ng Tze Yong: Lakshya Sen drops the 1st game. Saves one game point but Ng Tze Yong converts the 2nd. The Indian unhappy with how that panned out, looks to vent his anger on the racket but holds himself back. Perhaps unhappy with the serve at the end there. He needs to come back from a game down again if he’s to reach the final.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 18-20 Ng Tze Yong: Terrific smashes from both players to win a point each but soon enough Ng has two game points as LS sends a drive long.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 17-17 Ng Tze Yong: From 10-14 down to 17-14, Ng Tze Yong has zoomed ahead! This is around the point that Lakshya had said yesterday that he struggled against Prannoy. And just then, he closes the gap back to down to 1, at 16-17. Another well-controlled point by LS And we are level!
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 14-14 Ng Tze Yong: Ng fight back, terrific flat exchange and makes it 13-14 and another rapid rally, we are all level.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 11-8 Ng Tze Yong: Lakshya Sen starting to impose himself on this match. A quick word from his new coach Yong Sung Yoo... a 11-8 lead in the interval and now a 14-10 lead since.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 8-6 Ng Tze Yong: LS starting to make his move. A fist bump after a superb crosscourt smash.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen 6-6 Ng Tze Yong: Great start to this match. Tze Yong who has come through some tough matches already. A brilliant 45-shot rally early on, that Lakshya won. There was a 26-shot earlier. And then another brilliant rally that goes LS way. Both players off to a great start.
Men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen vs Ng Tze Yong: This is their second meeting on tour. LS will start off with his serve. Play!
Time for Lakshya Sen! On his India Open debut, he is one step away from setting up an eagerly-awaited final against world champion Loh Kean Yew. Malaysia’s 21-year-old Ng Ze Yong has been part of some tough matches here, winning three matches that went the distance.
Women’s doubles semifinal, India 12-21, 9-21 Thailand: Just 24 minutes is all it took in the end. Decent effort by the Indians, and they can be happy with the points gained from the semifinal run. Haritha & Ashna have something to build on. The Aimsaard sisters comfortable winners. Here’s how 2nd game panned out.
Women’s doubles semifinal, India 12-21, 9-19 Thailand: A 25-shot rally ends with terrific placement from Benyapa. She’s bossed this.
Women’s doubles semifinal, India 12-21, 8-17 Thailand: And now the floodgates have opened.
Women’s doubles semifinal, India 12-21, 8-12 Thailand: The net is certainly Indian. At least 4 points for the Indian pair from the chord!
Women’s doubles semifinal, India 12-21, 5-11 Thailand: Once again, hasn’t been all Thailand in the early exchanges. The Indians having some good moments. Made it 4-7, but the fourth seeds pull ahead again.
Women’s doubles semifinal, India 12-21 Thailand: Some good moments for the Indian pair in the opening game and they have not done too badly. But the Aimsaard sisters too strong.
Women’s doubles semifinal, India 9-16 Thailand: A 21-shot rally augurs well for the Indians. An error from Benyapa and then a nice point from Haritha. They have just closed the gap down a bit. Small wins. A lucky net chord for Haritha helps too.
Women’s doubles semifinal, India 4-11 Thailand: Benyapa, the younger sister (19), taking charge of the match here. The Indians did well briefly to make it a 4-point game but the Thai pair have pulled ahead.
Women’s doubles semifinal, India 1-5 Thailand (score corrected): The Indians have benefited from the withdrawal of 7th seeds Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand in their quarter of the draw (Jolly tested positive for Covid). The Aimsaard sisters are off to a fine start here.
Women’s doubles semifinal, India vs Thailand: Haritha (26) and Ashna (24) have played recent ranking tournaments together, this is their first international outing. Some huge ranking points gained already. Both are from Ernakulam. Can they pull off a massive upset? Aimsaard sisters start big favourites.
Women’s doubles semifinal, India vs Thailand: The first match featuring India is a surprise semifinalist in the women’s doubles. Unheralded pairing of Haritha MH and Ashna Roy, in their first international tournament together if I am not mistaken, are in action shortly. Here’s how they got here.
In a battle of fine margins against HS Prannoy in the quarterfinals, Lakshya had to win to just keep the momentum going. Having already run Srikanth close in Huelva, this was another test for Lakshya and one he eventually aced. The 20-year-old fought back from a game down to win 14-21 21-9, 21-14.
India Open: Lakshya Sen builds momentum with impressive win over HS Prannoy
2.02 pm: The first match of the day, one of the rare cases of seedings holding so far, has seen the [1] pair force a decider against [3] pair.
ICYMI: Two-time Olympic Games medallist PV Sindhu features in Forbes’ top 10 highest-paid female athletes in the world, a list that is topped once again by tennis star Naomi Osaka.
Sindhu was ranked No 7, with total earnings of $7.2 million for 2021. She had previously feature in the list in 2018, also at No 7 with earnings of $8.5 million then.
01.35 pm: First things first, Covid-19 has continued to affect the India Open. After a slew of withdrawals (all Indian players) before the second round, two Russian players were withdrawn from the main draw ahead of their mixed doubles semifinal clash on Saturday.
Second seeded Russian mixed doubles player Rodion Alimov tested positive for the virus and was withdrawn from the $400,000 tournament. His mixed doubles partner Alina Davletova was also withdrawn after being identified as a close contact. Indonesian pair of Yong Kai Terry Hee and Wei Han Tan thus made it to the mixed doubles final after getting a walkover.
This happened around midnight on Friday.
Earlier today, Brian Yang was also listed as a walkover for the men’s singles semifinal. As per BAI sources, “Brian Yang complained of sore throat and bit of a headache in the morning. He said he is not feeling well and hence he has withdrawn. Yang though has tested negative for COVID -19. Loh Kean Yew therefore is through to the finals.”
For the third cancelled match of the day, the women’s doubles pair from Russia reportedly withdrew due to an injury.
01.30 pm: Hello and welcome to the live coverage of semifinals day at India Open Super 500 badminton tournament, the 2022 season’s first BWF World Tour event. Three matches out of the 10 scheduled have been cancelled due to a combination of illness, injury and Covid-19. More on that shortly.
From India’s point of view, PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Satwik-Chirag headline the lineup. There are five matches featuring players from India. Keep an eye out for Aakarshi Kashyap later on in the day.
Screenshots in the blog courtesy Tournament Software / Sony LIV.