India Open 2025: PV Sindhu Eases Into Quarter-Final; Kiran George, Satwik-Chirag Also Enter Last Eight

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu eased into the quarterfinals, while Kiran George and top doubles team Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty delivered gritty performances to keep the home flag flying in the India Open Super 2025 in New Delhi on Thursday (January 16).

Sindhu, who was made to fight in the first round against Chinese Taipei's Shuo Yun Sung, cruised past Japan's world No. 46 Manami Suizu with a 21-15, 21-13 win in the women's singles pre-quarterfinal match that lasted 46 minutes on court 1 of the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall.

The former world champion Indian shuttler made a strong start, leading 11-6 at the break, but the Japanese shuttler fought back to take the score to 13-14 before Sindhu used her powerful smashes to move 20-14 up and sealed the game when Suizu hit into the net.

In the second essay, Sindhu raced to a 5-0 lead and quickly established a dominant 11-2 lead at the interval before racing to 21-13 win and booked a meeting with Paris Olympics bronze medallist Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the quarter-final match on Friday (January 17).

"After a break, what I liked about my game today was my movement and my attacks were working well. Moving forward, I need to be ready for anything because matches will get harder," said Sindhu, who will now face Indonesian fourth seed Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, who defeated another Japanese Natsuki Nadaira 21-12, 24-22 in the other second round clash.

Kiran George Saves Six Game Points

Kiran, on the other hand, pulled off a stunning recovery, saving six game points to outlast Alex Lanier 22-20, 21-13 in the pre-quarterfinals. He will next take on left-handed Chinese shuttler Hong Yang Weng in the last eight.

Kiran was helped by a series of unforced errors by the French shuttler in the opening game. Down 14-20, Kiran saved six game points, launching an eight-point burst to seal the opening game as Alex repeatedly missed the lines.

In the second game, Kiran led 14-11 after a fierce battle. Alex's smashes went wide and long, while Kiran capitalised on every opportunity. Alex lost both challenges as Kiran surged to a 19-13 lead, and a couple of net errors sealed the match for the Indian.

"At 14-20, I was just taking at one point at a time, not thinking about the lead, whether I'm trailing. I was just playing one point at a time. I think that helped me to secure the game," said Kiran after the win.

Satwik-Chirag Secure Comeback Win

Satwik-Chirag fought back from a game down to seal their quarter-final spot. The seventh seeded Indian pair defeated Japanese duo of Kenya Mitsuhashi and Hiroki Okamura by a scoreline of 20-22, 21-14, 21-16 in the men's doubles round of 16 match that lasted an hour and 12 minutes.

With the win, Rankireddy and Shetty duo will face the winner of South Korean Jin Yong & Kang Min-hyuk and Chinese Taipei's Chiu Hsiang-chieh & Wang Chi-lin in the men's doubles quarter-final on Friday (January 17).

Sindhu, Kiran and Satwik-Chirag kept India's challenge alive in the BWF Super 750 tournament, but several others, including the seeded women's doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, crashed out earlier in the day.

It was not a fruitful day for the other Indian contenders in the fray with women's doubles combination of Ashwini/Tanisha, Rutuparna Panda/Swetaparna Panda and mixed doubles pairs of Dhruv Kapila/Tanisha and Ashith Surya/Amrutha Pramuthesh getting knocked out in the second round.

Dhruv and Tanisha played their hearts out against eighth seeds Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito of Japan but ended on the losing end of the 21-18, 21-17 score-line. Later Tanisha and Ashwini also had a mixed day in office as they lost 9-21, 21-23 against Japan's Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto.