2024 French Open: Sindhu loses, Sat-Chi, Sen through to semis

Modified Mar 09, 2024 05:57 IST

Yonex French Open Badminton 2024 — India in action at the French Open

The fourth day of the French Open saw two doubles and two singles matches, and a mixed bag of results. While PV Sindhu and the doubles duo of Treesa/Gayathri were unable to push through, Lakshya Sen and Satwiksairaj/Chirag marched on to the semifinals.

First in action from the four was former World Champion PV Sindhu. The Indian had registered two three-set matches on her way to the top eight and was facing China's reigning Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei.

While Fei was the favorite to win the match, for a moment it looked like Sindhu might pull off her first upset for the Olympic year. The Indian won the first set 24-22, and went toe-to-toe with the Chinese second seed for the rest of the match, before losing 21-17, 21-18.

Next up on the court at the Arena Porte de la Chapelle was the World No.1 duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. The Indians faced no challenges getting to the quarterfinals, and yesterday was no different.

The first seeds were battling Thailand's Supak Jomkoh/Kittinupong Kedren and made their way to the final four in just 42 minutes, with a scoreline of 21-19, 21-13.

A little after Sat-Chi, the women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand were in action for their quarterfinals at the French Open. The World No.23 pair faced formidable foes in China's Chen Qing Chena and Jia Yi Fen.

While Jolly and Gopichand tackled a couple of higher-ranked opponents coming into this encounter, they weren't able to get past the Chinese World No. 1 pair and ended up losing the match 21-18, 21-7.

The last Indian on court today was Lakshya Sen, the sole remaining contender from the nation in the men's singles category. He was up against Singapore’s former World Champion Loh Kean Yew and delivered a fantastic performance to pull ahead to the semifinals.

The game started close and Yew was able to clinch the first game 21-19. However, Lakshya was quick to change the script in the next two games, winning the sets 21-15, 21-13.