Hylo Open 2026 review: Sindhu, Lakshya lead India’s title charge

India swept the singles titles at the Hylo Open 2026, with P.V. Sindhu and Lakshya Sen crowned women’s and men’s champions | Photo Credit: PV Sindhu/Instagram, Badminton Europe/Instagram

India swept the singles titles at the Hylo Open 2026, with P.V. Sindhu and Lakshya Sen crowned women’s and men’s champions, respectively, at the Saarlandhalle in Saarbrücken, Germany, on Sunday.

Sportstar looks back at how each Indian fared at the tournament.

P. V. Sindhu

A particular hush falls when a Sindhu smash lands steep and unreturned, and the Saarlandhalle heard it often during her opening rounds. The No. 2 seed gave UAE’s Prakriti Bharath 10 points in each game of a 21-10, 21-10 win, before France’s Rosy Oktavia Pancasari fared worse, going down 21-9, 21-6.

She continued her commanding run with a 21-12, 21-10 victory over Germany’s Amalie Schulz in the quarterfinals, before beating compatriot Anmol Kharb 21-13, 21-16 in the semifinals to set up a title clash against Denmark’s Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt.

Sindhu came into the tournament having lost the French Open final in Paris the previous week, after letting an early lead slip against An Se-young. This time, she gave her opponent no such opening. She won 21-12, 21-14, and at no point did the match feel as though it might turn.

The Sindhu of Saarbrücken won rallies by pushing opponents deeper and making them pay for every inch of court they gave up, rather than trying to finish them in a flash. The two-time Olympic medallist and 2019 world champion won in a final that lasted just 38 minutes. At 31, she remains a formidable presence on the circuit and the benchmark against which India’s younger women’s singles players are measured.

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Lakshya Sen

Saarbrücken first saw Lakshya as a teenager in 2019, when he came from a game down to beat China’s Weng Hongyang and lift his first big senior trophy. Seven years later, he returned as a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and won another title: the Hylo Open 2026 with a 21-17, 21-10 win over Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie. It was not an easy week. Joakim Oldorff pushed him early, Kiran George tested his legs and patience in an all-Indian clash, and Kalle Koljonen took the quarterfinal opener. Each time, Lakshya tightened his defence, lifted his tempo and waited for the rally to turn his way.

Toma Junior Popov had beaten Lakshya in both of their previous meetings, including a 21-11, 21-10 rout at the China Masters last year. This time Popov’s aggressive baseline game made a late push in the first, but Lakshya held his nerve to close it 21-17, then took the second 21-13.

In the final, Christie started well, and the early exchanges were fast and flat. Lakshya’s court coverage and net touch slowly shifted the balance, and he led 11-9 at the break. When Christie surged late with a flurry of cross-court smashes, Lakshya stayed calm and closed the game 21-17. The second game decided the match. Christie came out swinging, but Lakshya absorbed the pressure, countered cleanly and let the errors pile up on the other side. It was 11-7 at the interval and 21-10 at the end. For a player who spent the week answering questions about his body and form, it was the most complete reply he could have given.

ALSO READ | Lakshya Sen wins Hylo Open 2026 final, beats Jonatan Christie in straight games

Ashmita Chaliha

Ashmita has the left-handed leaping smash and the foot speed to make any first game look promising. Against Bulgaria’s Kaloyana Nalbantova in the first round, she took the opener and the match went the distance, but the decider ended 21-8 to Nalbantova, a sharp fade after a competitive start.

Anmol Kharb

Anmol reached the semifinals the hard way, twice over. She got past Sri Lanka’s Ranithma Liyanage in the first round, then came the No. 3 seed, Denmark’s Line Christophersen, who flattened her in the first game. Anmol hit back to take the second and then the decider 25-23. The nerve she showed in India’s Badminton Asia Team Championships gold run in 2024 was on display again, and it earned her a quarterfinal against compatriot Unnati Hooda, which she won in three games, before Sindhu stopped her in the last four.

H. S. Prannoy

If any Indian match had the makings of a classic, it was Prannoy’s first-round match against France’s sixth seed, Toma Junior Popov. The 2023 World bronze medallist pushed the opener to tiebreak, but it slipped away 21-23, and that single game decided the match. Popov took control of the pace and closed out the second.

For a player of Prannoy’s explosiveness, with the jump smashes and deceptive net dribbles, it was a bruising early exit.

ALSO READ | India at the French Open 2026: Sindhu’s final, Ashmita’s upset and a doubles dip

How the others performed

Unnati Hooda: The No. 6 seed’s game is quick hands and quicker feet, a front-court rush designed to make an opponent flinch before the rally begins. She dropped the first game to the Czech Republic’s Tereza Svabilkova, then took the next two comfortably, before losing the all-Indian quarterfinal to Anmol.

Malvika Bansod: Her week began with a compatriot. Devika Sihag took the opening game, but Malvika, the tactician, found her angles and drops and won the next two to move on. Canada’s Wen Yu Zhang then beat her in straight games, and her placement-and-patience game never found the gaps it needed.

Isharani Baruah: A grinder who lives on long rallies and her opponent’s errors, she beat Germany’s Miranda Wilson in straight games. The No. 8 seed, Kjaersfeldt, then beat her in straight games too, the second game close enough to hurt.

Aakarshi Kashyap: She lost to Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova in straight games.

Men’s singles: Kiran George opened with a straight-games win over Malaysia’s Cheam June Wei, but lost to Lakshya in an all-Indian clash, fading in the decider. S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian found few openings against Finland’s Kalle Koljonen and went down in straight games, as did Tharun Mannepalli against Taiwan’s Chi Yu Jen.