Bukit Jalil [Malaysia], May 24 : Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth reached his first World Tour Final of the Malaysia Masters 2025 badminton tournament in Bukit Jalil since 2019, after defeating Japan's Yushi Tanaka in the semi-final on Saturday, according to Olympics.com.
Currently ranked 65th in the badminton rankings, Srikanth defeated world No. 23 Yushi Tanaka 21-18, 24-22 in a hard-fought semi-final contest which lasted 49 minutes.
This was Srikanth's first semi-final appearance of the year. His last top-four finish on the BWF World Tour was at the Swiss Open Super 300 in March 2024.
In the final, the Indian badminton player will face the winner of the other semi-final clash between Japan's world No. 8 Kodai Naraoka and Li Shifeng of the People's Republic of China, who is currently ranked fourth.
Earlier in the quarterfinals, Srikanth won over France's Toma Junior Popov and advanced to the semi-finals.
Srikanth came from behind in the decider to register a gritty 24-22, 17-21, 22-20 win over world No. 18 Popov in a match that lasted one hour and 14 minutes on Friday.
The Indian badminton player made a brisk start, surging to a 7-4 lead in the opening game, only for Popov to claw his way back.
The French shuttler held a game point opportunity at 21-20, but Srikanth turned the tide to snatch the opener.
Srikanth trailed by four points at the break in the second game. He drew level at 15-15 but lost steam as the match went into the decider.
Srikanth was also four points behind his opponent in the third midgame break of the match, but this time, he mounted an inspiring comeback to seal the contest. It was his fourth win over Toma Junior Popov from six meetings.
Meanwhile, it was the end of the road for India's mixed doubles pair of Paris 2024 Olympian Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila.
The Indian badminton players lost 22-24 and 13-21 in their quarter-finals against the People's Republic of China's Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin, bronze medallists from the 2023 World Championships.
Srikanth is now the only Indian challenge left at the BWF Super 500 tournament.