Friday's Malaysia Masters semi-final match was won by India's top shuttler, P V Sindhu, over China's Zhang Yi Man.

Sixth-seeded Sindhu, who has won two Olympic medals, defeated lower-seeded Zhang in a quarterfinal match that spanned one hour and 14 minutes by scores of 21-16, 13-21, and 22-20. In the All England Open early this year, Zhang, who is ranked 18th, defeated world number 13 Sindhu in the round of 32. She had previously triumphed against her Chinese rival in the same tournament in 2022.

Sindhu's next prey

On Saturday, Sindhu will play Indonesian Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, the seventh seed and world number nine. In the quarterfinals, Tunjung defeated Chinese second seed Yi Zhi Wang 21-18, 22-20, causing a huge upset. In April's Madrid, Spain, Masters final, Tunjung defeated Sindhu in straight games due to her recent amazing form. However, Sindhu goes into the match with a superior 7-1 record over Tunjung in her career.

Prannoy's epic win

The men's singles quarterfinal match, however, saw Christian Adinata of Indonesia defeat Kidambi Srikanth.

Srikanth won the first game in a 57-minute battle but lost the next two, giving Indonesia the victory. Scores were 21-16, 16-21, and 11-21, with the Indians taking the worst hit.

In another quarterfinal, H S Prannoy defeated Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the men's singles match 25-23, 18-21, 21-18 to advance to the semifinals.

"Feels good to win back-to-back matches. The Chinese guy was in good form. It was tough to push him to the limit and win today," Prannoy told TOI.

The Malaysia Masters is the opening competition on the Road to Paris, the Olympic qualification process for Paris in 2024.