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Ashmita Chaliha produced the biggest victory of her career, stunning world champion and third seed Akane Yamaguchi in straight games to reach the French Open quarterfinals.
Ashmita Chaliha stuns Akane Yamaguchi (Picture credit: Badminton Photo)
Star Indian women’s singles shuttler Ashmita Chaliha, who won the Korea Masters earlier this year, stunned the 2025 World Championships gold medallist and third seed Akane Yamaguchi in the second round of the French Open to pull off the biggest win of her career.
Ashmita, who had beaten China’s Han Qian Xi in a 21-18, 24-22 first-round thriller on Tuesday, beat Yamaguchi in yet another close match, winning 21-19, 21-18.
Ashmita was the underdog coming into this clash, having lost to the Japanese shuttler last week in the Round of 16 of the Denmark Open in what was their first-ever clash on tour.
But Ashmita took just a week to avenge the defeat, stunning Yamaguchi and ending her hopes of winning a fourth French Open title.
Ashmita will either face 11th seed Pornpawee Chochuwong or Nozomi Okuhara in the quarterfinal.
Much like the Denmark Open last week, the French Open has been yet another disappointing outing for Indian shuttlers and Ashmita’s big win might come as a breath of fresh air for many.
On Tuesday, the opening day of the tournament, World Championships bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand suffered a straight-game loss to a lower-ranked pair from Chinese Taipei.
Meanwhile, fifth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty extended their inconsistent run, going down in three games to the Popov brothers.
India endured another disappointing day on Wednesday as Unnati Hooda fell in three games to Riko Gunji, while Devika Sihag lost a three-game battle against fifth seed Putri Kusuma Wardani.
Lakshya Sen, meanwhile, conceded a walkover to sixth seed Kodai Naraoka.
India’s struggles continued on Thursday before Ashmita’s big victory over Yamaguchi, with Tanvi Sharma suffering a straight-game loss to top seed An Se-young, while Ayush Shetty retired during his match against Naraoka.
The only other bright spot for India was double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu’s straight-game win against Gunji. She will face either Chiu Pin-Chian or Sim Yu Jin in the quarterfinals.
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Ask News18Ashmita Chaliha secured the biggest win of her career by defeating the 2025 World Championships gold medallist and third seed Akane Yamaguchi 21-19, 21-18 in the second round of the French Open.
Ask News18October 22, 2026, 19:40 IST
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