Rounak Chouhan reached the first BWF Super 300 semifinal of his career, marking the biggest milestone of his international badminton journey.
Kidambi Srikanth and Devika Sihag also progressed to the semifinals with convincing victories, keeping India's campaign alive across multiple categories.
With three Indian shuttlers in the last four, India remains firmly in contention for multiple titles at the US Open 2026.
Young Indian shuttler Rounak Chouhan continued his dream run as he saw off Israel’s Misha Zilberman in straight games to reach the semifinals of the US Open badminton tournament here.
Chouhan defeated Zilberman 23-21, 21-11 in just 38 minutes to reach his first men’s singles BWF World Tour Super 300 semifinal, here on Friday.
"I feel very happy about the win. I had a thought that I can pull off this match. I had no pressure as I'm a youngster," said Chouhan, who had played a pivotal role in leading the Indian squad to a historic bronze medal in the mixed team event at BWF World Junior Championships.
"I mentally worked on my patience, on court my smashes were working very well. It gives me a lot of confidence performing in the senior circuit." The 18-year-old from Chhattisgarh, who entered the event as a qualifier, will next face Chinese Taipei's Su Li Yang.
"I will make sure that I do better in the upcoming matches. I will go with the same mindset, just play my game and have fun on the court," he said.
Thailand Masters winner Devika Sihag also dished out a superb show, upsetting third seed Riko Gunji of Japan.
Devika kept her nerves in the business end of both the games to beat Gunji 22-20, 21-19 in the women’s singles quarterfinals.
Later in the day, former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth packed off Liao Jhuo-Fu of Chinese Taipei 21-9, 12-21, 21-8 in the other quarterfinals to raise hopes of an all-India final on Sunday.
In the semifinals, Chouhan will face eighth seed Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei while Srikanth will take on fourth seed Yudai Okimoto of Japan.
Meanwhile, Devika will face second seed Line Christophersen in the semifinal. The Danish player got the better of India’s Tanvi Sharma in the quarterfinals 21-16, 11-21, 21-11.
In the other quarterfinal, Rakshitha Sree went down 15-21, 21-16, 21-12 against Canada’s Rachel Chan.
