Female shuttler Unnati Hooda has qualified in the semi-finals with straight-game wins in the ongoing Badminton Hylo Open 2025. On Friday, October 31, 2025, she defeated fourth seed LIN Hsiang Ti of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals by sets of 22-20, 21-13 in 47 minutes. Unnati has avenged her loss against No. 24 Ti LIN during the Malaysian Masters held in May.
With the victory, Unnati is the only Indian player to remain in contention in the tournament. On Saturday, October 1, 2025, she will face top seed Putri Kusuma Wardani in the semi-final clash.
The Hylo Open 2025 badminton tournament is being held in Germany starting from October 28 and will conclude on November 2, 2025.
Meanwhile, in the men’s singles quarterfinals, Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, and Kiran George were dropped out after their quarterfinal loss in the Super 300 event. Lakshya lost the opening game against French fourth seed Alex Lanier by sets of 17-21, 21-14, 15-21 in a game that lasted for one hour and 14 minutes. Sen has previously faced the French opponent during the Denmark Open quarterfinals match, which he also lost.
Shetty started strong in the first set of the quarterfinals game against Finland’s Kalle Koljonen with 21-19, but then failed to continue the momentum, losing the other two sets by 12-21, 20-22 in the game that lasted for 68 minutes.
On the other hand, George lost his quarterfinals game to World No. 5 and second seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia by sets of 16-21, 10-21. The game, however, concluded in 39 minutes.
A look into Unnati’s badminton career
No. 34 ranked Unnati, who sees PV Sindhu as her inspiration, made history after winning the Odisha Open 2022 at the age of 14. With the victory, she became the youngest Indian badminton player to win the World Tour title in the BWF Super 100. She defeated her compatriot Samiya Farooqui in the quarter-finals match, followed by her semi-finals win against Malvika Bansod in a 50-minute game.
Unnati’s journey in badminton started in Haryana in the Chhotu Ram Stadium in Rohtak.
She was also part of India’s Uber Cup squad upon finishing third in the trial selection. She was also set to participate in the 2023 Asian Games squad but was dropped out as the event got postponed.
Unnati has also faced her idol Sindhu at the 2024 Syed Modi International tournament held in Lucknow, but lost in a one-sided match by sets of 21-12, 21-9. Fast-forward to the 2025 China Open pre-quarterfinals match, she performed brilliantly and claimed the victory against Sindhu by sets of 21-16, 19-21, 21-13.
(Inputs sourced from Olympics, ESPN & Sportstar)
