Every cloud has a silver lining. Former world No.1 Kidambi Srikanth finally won through to a long-awaited final at the PERODUA Malaysia Masters 2025. 

After advancing from the qualifiers, Kidambi defeated sixth seed Lu Guang Zu in the first round, Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in the second, and edged Toma Junior Popov in the quarterfinals.

Today he zipped past Japan’s Yushi Tanaka, conditioned by one Kento Momota, 21-18 24-22.

Kidambi’s last final was the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2021, where he lost to Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew. Before that, his best effort on the HSBC BWF World Tour was a runner-up finish at the India Open 2019 versus Viktor Axelsen.

The 32-year-old Indian could not hide his joy when asked about the win. “I’ve been working so hard. Having these wins after a very long time is such a good feeling,” he said.

“Physically, I’ve been feeling well. I’ve been playing a lot of qualifying matches and lost many of them, so maybe I’ve lost my touch.

“But somehow, it worked this time.” 

He now plays China’s Li Shi Feng in the decider.

What Others Said

“She [Wang Zhi Yi] is a strong player. She plays a lot of rally shots. If I want to win against her or someone like An Se Young, I have to be 100 per cent fit. It’s quite hard for me if we compare my age with theirs.” – Ratchanok Intanon

“We are familiar with each other as teammates but I think it will be a tough match tomorrow. I believe we will both come out in our best form and hope to put on a great performance for the audience.” – Wang Zhi Yi on her final against Han Yue 

→ Results (Day 5)

→ Order of Play (Day 6)