Japan Open: Satwik-Chirag, Lakshya Sen advance to round of 16

India's top contenders in men's singles and doubles progressed to the Round of 16 at the Japan Open 2025, with Lakshya Sen and the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty registering straight-game wins in their opening matches on Wednesday.

Sen delivered a confident performance, defeating China’s Wang Zheng Xing 21-11, 21-18. He will now face local favourite Kodai Naraoka of Japan in the second round, according to a press release from BAI Media.

In the men’s doubles category, Satwik and Chirag kicked off their campaign on a strong note by overcoming South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju 21-18, 21-10 to secure their spot in the last 16, ANI reported.

However, in women’s singles, both PV Sindhu and Unnati Hooda were eliminated in the first round.

Playing her first match since the Indonesia Open in early June, PV Sindhu—currently ranked 16th in the world—suffered a straight-game defeat against South Korea’s Sim Yu Jin, ranked 14th. The match lasted just 38 minutes, with Sindhu losing 21-15, 21-14. This was the first time Sim had defeated Sindhu in their four encounters.

This latest loss adds to what has been a difficult 2025 BWF World Tour season for Sindhu. Her best result so far remains a quarter-final appearance at the India Open in January. Since then, she has exited four tournaments in the opening round and reached the round of 16 on two occasions.

Meanwhile, Unnati Hooda was defeated by Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong in straight games, losing 21-8, 21-12. In another upcoming match, Anupama Upadhyaya and Rakshitha Ramraj are set to face off in an all-Indian clash.

In doubles action, the men’s pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi, along with the women’s duo Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi, are also scheduled to compete.

However, the women’s doubles team of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda exited the tournament after falling to Japan’s Kokona Ishikawa and Maiko Kawazoe 21-13, 21-7 on Tuesday.