India’s Lakshya Sen and Tharun Mannepalli battled hard to book their places in the men’s singles semi-finals at the Macau Open 2025 on Friday, while the nation’s top doubles duo, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, suffered a narrow defeat in the quarter-finals.

Tharun Mannepalli continued his stellar run at the BWF Super 300 event, stunning China’s reigning junior world champion Hu Zhe’an in a gripping three-game quarter-final at the Macao East Asian Games Dome. After taking the first game 21-12 and then conceding the second 13-21, Tharun edged out his opponent 21-18 in the decider. The 23-year-old had earlier upset top seed Lee Cheuk Yiu and will now face Malaysia’s Justin Hoh in the semi-finals—a player he beat at the Thailand Open earlier this year.

Lakshya Sen, ranked 17th in the world and a Paris 2024 semi-finalist, overcame a stern challenge from world No. 77 Xuan Chen Zhu of China. Lakshya took the opening game 21-14 but slipped in the second, losing 18-21 despite holding a 17-14 lead. He bounced back emphatically to seal the final game 21-14. This marks his best performance on the BWF World Tour in 2025. He will meet Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan in the last four.

In men’s doubles, world No. 9 pair Satwik and Chirag were ousted by Malaysia’s Choong Hon Jian and Muhammad Haikal. Despite holding match point in the final game, the Indians fell 21-14, 13-21, 22-20, marking their first loss against the Malaysian duo.