Published: June 27, 2026 at 5:24 pm
Devika Sihag pulled off a major upset as she got the better of former junior world champion Riko Gunji of Japan and storm into the women’s singles semifinals of the US Open 2026 badminton tournament at the Titan Gym in California on Friday.
The 21-year-old Indian produced a composed display under pressure to beat the third seed Japanese 22-20, 21-19 and book her place in the last four of the BWF Super 300 event.
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Devika Sihag, who is ranked 35th, has now reached her third semifinal of the season, having won the Thailand Masters BWF Super 300 title and the Azerbaijan International earlier this year.
She will next face Denmark’s second seed Line Christophersen, who defeated India’s Tanvi Sharma 21-16, 11-21, 21-11.
The 18-year-old Rounak Chouhan and veteran Kidambi Srikanth, 33, also progressed to the last four with wins in their respective men’s singles quarterfinals.
Kidambi Srikanth defeated Liao Jhuo-Fu of Chinese Taipei 21-9, 12-21, 21-8. Pics: BAI
Chouhan, 80th in the rankings, defeated Israel’s world No. 77 Misha Zilberman 23-21, 21-11 in just 38 minutes to reach his first men’s singles BWF World Tour Super 300 semifinal.
Later in the day, former World No.1 Kidambi Srikanth defeated Liao Jhuo-Fu of Chinese Taipei 21-9, 12-21, 21-8. Srikanth had beaten Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, the Paris 2024 Olympics bronze medal winner, in the second round.
Rounak Chouhan, who stunned world No. 6 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the second round, will face eighth seed Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei for a place in the final while Srikanth will take on fourth seed Yudai Okimoto of Japan.
Meanwhile, Rakshitha Sree went down 15-21, 21-16, 21-12 against Canada’s Rachel Chan in the women’s singles quarterfinal. India’s doubles challenge at the US Open badminton tournament ended in the second round on Thursday.
