PICS: Sindhu, Kashyap cruise into India Open semis

Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu progressed to the women's singles semi-finals, defeating fellow-Indian Ashmita Chaliha in straight games, at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open badminton tournament, in New Delhi, on Friday.

The top seed, a former World champion, needed 36 minutes to get the better of the 21-year-old Chaliha 21-7, 21-18 and set up a last-four meeting with Thailand's Supanida Katethong.

Sixth seeded Katethong entered the semi-finals after third seeded Yeo Jia Min of Singapore pulled out of the tournament due to "high fever".

However, World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen was made to sweat before sealing a place in the men's singles semi-finals, with a 14-21, 21-9, 21-14 victory over H S Prannoy.

The third seed will square off against either Malaysia's Ng Tze Yong or Ireland's Nhat Nguyen in the semi-finals.

The last time Sindhu was up against Chaliha, at the 83rd Yonex-Sunrise Senior National Championships in 2019, the youngster from Assam produced a spirited performance.

On Friday too she did. Chaliha took time to get into the groove and put up a good fight in the second game but couldn't stop Sindhu from walking away with the match.

Sindhu came out all guns blazing in the opening game, racing to a 11-5 lead at the change-over and then reeled off the last 10 points to earn the bragging rights.

Chaliha gave a better account of herself in the second game as the scores were tied 9-9 before Sindhu managed a slender one-point advantage at the break.

Sindhu then established a 15-11 before Chaliha again clawed her way back to draw level at 15.

However, Sindhu switched gears and grabbed four match-points. Chaliha saved two before Sindhu closed out the match.

In the other semi-final, Aakarshi Kashyap will face second seeded Thai Busanan Ongbamrungphan after notching a 21-12, 21-15 victory over compatriot Malvika Bansod in the quarter-finals.

Busanan trounced USA's Lauren Lam 21-12, 21-8 in another last-eight match.

Sen and Prannoy engaged in a battle of supremacy, the former dominating the proceedings initially to secure a 6-2 lead.

Prannoy, who reached the quarter-finals at the last World Championships, got his act together in time to turn tables at 12-10 and then zoomed from 15-14 to pocket the opening game.

Sen roared back into the contest in the second game as he ran up a huge 12-5 lead and didn't look back from that point, as Prannoy crumbled.

In the decider, Prannoy took the initiative early, opening up a 6-1 advantage but he couldn't sustain it as Sen moved to 11-9 at the interval and then pocketed nine of the next 11 points to seal the match.

The men's doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sai Pratheek K cut a sorry figure against Malaysian third seeds Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, losing 7-21, 7-21 in 19 minutes.

In the mixed doubles, the Indian pairing of Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan, seeded 8th, were no match for the Malaysian combination of Chen Tang Jie and Peck Yen Wei, going down 10-21, 13-21 in 23 minutes.

Another Indian pair, Nithin HV and Ashwini Bhat K lost 15-21, 19-21 to Singapore's Hee Yong Kai Terry and Tan Wei Han and bowed out of the US $400,000 event.