India's star shuttler PV Sindhu saw her hopes of winning a major title in the 2026 season dashed as she fell to reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi in the semifinals of the Australian Open 2026 in Sydney on Saturday.
The world number 10 lost 22-20, 21-12 to world number 3 Yamaguchi in a 43-minute match at the BWF Super 500 tournament, as reported by Olympics.com.
This was Sindhu's second semifinal appearance on the 2026 BWF World Tour. Earlier, she reached the last four at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 in January, where she lost to China's Wang Zhiyi.
The two-time Olympic medalist's last title on the BWF circuit came at the Syed Modi International in Lucknow in 2024.
In a tightly contested first game, Sindhu started strongly and held a slim lead at the mid-game interval. After the break, Yamaguchi mounted a comeback with a six-point streak to take control. Sindhu responded by regaining momentum and edging ahead once more.
The game went down to the wire, with Sindhu saving a match point at 20-19, but she eventually lost the opener.
In the second game, Yamaguchi dominated from the start, racing to a 13-6 lead with seven consecutive points and maintaining control to seal the match.
With this defeat, Sindhu's campaign ended, marking the exit of all Indian players from the Australian Open.
India's men's doubles challenge had ended earlier when MR Arjun and Hariharan Amsakarunan retired from their quarterfinal match, while none of the Indian men's singles players advanced beyond the first round.
