Tanya Hemanth (screenshot)
India’s 2026 Canadian Open campaign ended after defeating Akarshi Kashyap and Tanya Hemanth in the second round of the women’s singles event at the BWF Super 300 tournament in Markham, Ontario.Akarshi, ranked world No. 71, put up a tough battle against fourth seed and world No. 33 Beiwen Zhang of the United States before losing 20-22, 21-17, 21-17 in a tough match that lasted one hour and seven minutes.
The Indian started brightly and took a 10-6 lead in the opener, but Zhang fought back to steal the first game. Akarshi continued to fight throughout the match and pushed the deciding team to 17-17 before the American won four consecutive points to secure the victory.
The defeat was Akarshi’s third loss to Zhang in the same number of meetings.India’s hopes were further dented when world No. 56 Tanya Hemanth suffered straight defeats to Japanese third seed and world No. 21 Rikuo Junji.Gunji controlled the match from start to finish, winning 21-11, 21-11 in just 31 minutes. This is Tania’s second consecutive defeat against the Japanese player, after also losing to her in the opening round of the US Open last week.
Akarshi and Tania were the last Indian players remaining in the tournament after the rest of the team had already exited.Former world number one Kidambi Srikanth retired due to injury during his match against Malaysia’s Lee Zi Jia, while Devika Sehag, Rakshitha Ramraj, Anmol Kharp, Shriyanshi Valeshetti, Saneth Dayanand and Sankar Subramanian all exited in the first rounds.India’s challenge in the doubles event also ended on the opening day after the elimination of Achutaditya Rao Doddavarapu and Arjun Reddy Pochana. The Indian players will next compete in the Japan Open 750, which begins on July 14.