Hylo Open 2025: Unnati Hooda powers to semi-finals; Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty crash out in quarterfinals

New Delhi [India], October 31 (ANI): India's campaign in the men's singles event at the Hylo Open 2025 badminton tournament concluded on Friday with top seeds Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, and Kiran George losing their quarterfinal matches in Saarbrucken, Germany.

Unnati Hooda, with a stunning win over fourth-seeded Lin Hsiang-Ti of Chinese Taipei, was the only Indian badminton player to progress to the semi-finals of the BWF Super 500 tournament, as per Olympics.com.

Shetty, ranked 31st in men's singles badminton, was the first to exit, losing to Finland's Kalle Koljonen 19-21, 21-12, 20-22 in a thrilling three-set match. Earlier, Ayush had defeated 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in straight games.

Lakhsya Sen, India's top-ranked men's singles player at 17th, lost to world No. 16 Alex Lanier 21-17, 14-21, 21-15.

Unnati Hooda defeated Lin Hsiang-Ti 22-20, 21-13 in 47 minutes, showcasing her growing prowess in badminton. Unnati was beaten by Lin Hsiang-Ti in the first round of the Malaysia Masters earlier this year. She will now be up against top-seeded Indonesian Putri Kusuma Wardani for a place in the final.

This will be Unnati Hooda's second semi-final on the 2025 BWF World Tour, having also reached the last four at the Taipei Open Super 300 tournament in May.

Kiran George fell to the 2nd seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, losing 21-10, 21-16. Kiran is the son of Commonwealth Games silver medalist George Thomas.

It was also the end of the road for Rakshitha Sree Ramraj in the women's singles. Rakshitha, who overcame compatriot Shriyanshi Valishetty in three games on Thursday, lost to sixth seed Line Christophersen of Denmark 21-7, 21-19. (ANI)

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