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Malaysia Open: PV Sindhu cruises into quarterfinals, Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty exit

Malaysia Open: PV Sindhu cruises into quarterfinals, Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty exit

Bavana Guntha
January 9, 2026

India’s star shuttler PV Sindhu made a powerful statement on her comeback, overpowering higher-ranked Japanese player Tomoka Miyazaki to secure a spot in the women’s singles quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 badminton tournament.

Former world champion Sindhu, returning after a long injury lay-off, defeated the eighth-seeded Miyazaki 21-8, 21-13 in just 33 minutes, marking her second career win over the 19-year-old Japanese teenager and taking their head-to-head record to 2-1.

Sindhu stormed to a 5-1 lead early in the first game before rattling off 13 consecutive points, establishing an imposing 18-4 advantage. The second game saw Miyazaki briefly stay in touch at 8-9, but Sindhu’s experience proved decisive as she pulled ahead to 17-11 and wrapped up the match comfortably. She will next face the winner of the pre-quarterfinal clash between China’s Gao Fang Jie and third-seeded Japanese Akane Yamaguchi.

Sindhu’s illustrious career includes an Olympic silver (2016), bronze (2020) , a World Championship gold (2019) , and multiple Super Series and World Tour titles, making her one of India’s most decorated shuttlers.

On the men’s side, Lakshya Sen , who had ended a three-year first-round jinx in the tournament on Wednesday by defeating Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh, fell to Hong Kong-China’s Lee Cheuk Yiu 22-20, 15-21 in a pre-quarterfinal contest lasting 53 minutes. Young Ayush Shetty also exited after a hard-fought three-game battle against top seed Shi Yu Qi of China, losing 18-21, 21-18, 12-21 in 70 minutes.

In men’s doubles, former world No. 1 pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their winning form, defeating Chinese Taipei’s Yang Po-Hsuan and Lee Jhe-Hue 21-13, 21-15 in 35 minutes to enter the pre-quarterfinals. Satwik and Chirag have previously won multiple World Tour titles and were semifinalists at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Sindhu’s dominant performance adds momentum to her comeback campaign, while India’s younger shuttlers look to regroup ahead of the next tournaments.