New Delhi, Jan 17(.): Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie beat former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the men’s singles semifinals while world no. 1 An Se Young set up a women’s singles summit clash against China’s Wang Zhi Yi in the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2026 on Saturday.
Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2026 is a HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 event organised by the Badminton Association of India, here at the Indira Gandhi stadium on Saturday.
Third seed Christie mixed his tactics and kept his nerves in key situations to better Yew.
He fought back in the opening game from 5-11 to beat the Singaporean 21-18, 22-20 in 46 minutes to reach the men’s singles final.
Earlier, An Se Young defeated former champion Ratchnok Intanon of Thailand 21-11, 21-7 while Wang got the better of compatriot Chen Yu Fei 21-15, 23-21 in the women’s singles semifinals.
An Se Young, while speaking about her chances against Wang against whom she has a very good past record said “every match is a new start, she is a very good player, hope it goes well”
When asked whether she is facing difficulties playing at the Indira Gandhi stadium, the world number 1 player said “every stadium is different, I try to adjust my speed according to the conditions of the stadium.”
Addressing the press after the match
Thai player Ratchanok Intanon said “today I did not play very well and she was faster than me, she did not allow me to play my game when I tried to increase my speed I made errors. Her physical condition and mentality right now makes her very hard to beat.”
In the men’s singles semifinal, Loh came out all guns blazing in the opening game and went for quick winners and took a 11-5 lead. But Christie then began engaging the Singaporean in longer rallies and relied on his defensive skills to force errors from his opponents. The Indonesian won six straight points to draw level at 15-15 and then relied on quick net taps and down the line smashes to pocket the opening game.
In the second game, Loh needed time to get back his focus as he sprayed a couple of smashes wide. But once he found his rhythm, it looked like the eighth seed would take the match into the decider as he opened up a 17-13 lead by keeping Christie away from the net. But the Indonesian once again went for quick attacks. Christie needed two match points to close out the match and extended his winning
streak over Loh to 9-0.
“In the second game when Loh started to come back, I held my nerves and adapted to the game better and managed to win,” said Christie after the match.
Christie will face Chinese’s Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi in the final. Lin converted fourth match point in the decider to beat Canada’s Victor Lai 21-9, 6-21, 22-20 in one hour and one minute.
Results:
Men’s singles: 3-Jonatan Christie (INA) bt 8-Loh Kean Yew (SGP) 21-18, 22-20; Lin Chun–Yi (TPE) bt Victor Lai (CAN) 21-9, 6-21, 22-20
Women’s singles: 1-An Se Young (KOR) bt 7-Ratchanok Intanon (THA) 21-11, 21-7; 2-Wang Zhi Yi (CHN) bt 4-Chen Yu Fei (CHN) 21-15, 23-21
Women’s doubles: 1-Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning (Chn) bt 6-Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee (Kor) 21-12; 17-21, 21-14; 5-Yuki Fukushima/Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) bt 2-Pearly
Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas) 21-16, 21-13
Mixed doubles: 3-Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) bt 1-Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping (Chn) 16-21, 21-19, 21-16; 4-Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang (CHN) bt Kang Min Hyuk/Ki Dong Ju (KOR) 22-20, 21-18
.