Rio Olympic silver medallist Sindhu fought off Japanese Minatsu Mitani with a 21-19, 16-21, 21-10 victory in an hour and three minutes at the SK Handball Stadium.
With this win, three-time World Championships medallist Sindhu has equalised 2-2 in career meetings with the Japanese.
The Indian fifth seed will meet Chinese sixth seed He Bingjiao, who moved past South Korean third seed Sung Ji Hyun with a 21-19 16-21 21-19 victory in an hour and 17 minutes.
Sindhu trails 3-5 in head-to-head record against Bingjiao.
The other women's singles semi-finals will be contested between Japanse talents, reigning world champion Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi.
Sameer, meanwhile, lost to South Korean top seed Son Wan Ho 22-20, 10-21, 13-21 in an hour and nine minutes.
Sameer had stunned Son during first meeting -- at the India Open in March earlier this year. But Son this time played a nearly flawless game to enter the last four stage.
Son will meet Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, while Chinese Taipei's seventh seed Wang Tzu Wei will face Indonesian Jonatan Christie in the men's singles semi-finals.
The teenage doubles pair of Satwik-Chirag lost to Japanese third seeds Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 14-21, 21-17, 15-21 in 55 minutes.
The Olympic silver medallist needed just 37 minutes to defeat Han 21-9, 21-17 in her opening match on Wednesday. Fifth-seeded Sindhu will now face Japan's Aya Ohori -- whom she had recently defeated in the Indonesia Open -- in the second round.
However, there was disappointment for Kidambi Srikanth as he bowed out of the men's singles event after suffering a stunning defeat to compatriot H.S. Prannoy in his first-round match. Prannoy defeated Srikanth 13-21, 21-11, 22-20 in a match that lasted for an hour.
Unseeded Sameer Verma also crashed out of the tournament after suffering a 21-17, 21-12 defeat to Denmark's Anders Antonsen in his match.
In men's double event, the Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty progressed to the next round after defeating Britain's Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge 21-16, 21-17 in 43 minutes.
In mixed doubles, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Reddy N. Sikki also crashed out of the tournament after losing their opening match 11-21, 14-21 to Chinese pair of Zhend Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiaong in less than 30 minutes.
In women's doubles, Ashwini Ponappa and Reddy N. Sikki lost 16-21, 14-21 to South Korea's kong Hee Yong and Kim So Yeong to make exit.
On Thursday, B. Sai Praneeth, who shocked Japan's Kento Nishimoto in the opening round, will compete with Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan while Prannoy will lock horns with Rasmus Gemke of Denmark.
In mixed doubles, Ashwini Ponappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will be competing against Thailand's Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai in their second-round contest.
Seventh seed Saina, who returned to action after nearly two months, squandered a game advantage to lose 21-16 11-21 14-21 against unseeded Sayaka Takahashi of Japan in a women's singles second round duel that lasted 48 minutes.
In the absence of PV Sindhu, who withdrew in the last minute from the event, Saina's ouster marks the end of India's campaign in women's singles.
Saina had earlier made last-minute withdrawals from Indonesia Open and last week's Japan Open because of injuries.
Later, fifth seed Srikanth too wasted a game's lead to bow out against less-fancied Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand 21-11 16-21 12-21 in the second round of the men's singles.
To add to India's woes, unseeded Indian shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and H S Prannoy too bowed out without a fight.
While Kashyap was no match for third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, losing 9-21 14-21 in just 33 minutes, Prannoy suffered a 17-21 10-21 defeat against sixth seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
But Sai Praneeth, who reached the semifinals of Japan Open last week, continued his good form and stormed into the last-eight round with a comfortable 21-18 21-19 win over compatriot Shubhankar Dey.
Sai Praneeth will be up against seventh seed Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the next round.
However, it was good news for India in the men's doubles event as the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty moved into the quarterfinals after registering a straight-game 21-17 21-19 win over Indonesian combination of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.
The India duo will next play qualifiers Choi Solgyu and Seo Seung Jae of Korea on Friday.
In mixed doubles, while the pair of Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa defeated Indonesia's Alfian Eko Prasetya and Marsheilla Gischa Islami 21-18 21-19 to make it to the last-eight round, the other Indian duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy lost 16-21 11-21 to eight seeds Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong to bow out of the tournament.
Rankireddy and Ponnappa will next play against third seeded Japanese combination of Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.
Satwik and Chirag, ranked 15th in the world, could not maintain their decent start against their fourth-seeded opponents and went down 19-21, 8-21 in the second-round match that lasted 33 minutes at the Olympic Sports Center Xincheng Gymnasium.
This is the second instance this year, after the Japan Open loss in July, that Satvik and Chirag emerged out on the losing side against the combination of Kamura and Sonoda.
Later in the day, the mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini Ponanappa, who stunned Indonesia's world no.7 combination of Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti in the opening round, will take on Yuki Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo of Japan.
P.V. Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth will also be playing their respective singles' second-round clashes later.
Sindhu, an Olympic silver medallist, squandered a first-game advantage to go down 12-21 21-13 21-19 to Pornpawee in a match that lasted 58 minutes here.
Doubles specialist Satwiksairaj Rankireddy also had a dismal day as he suffered twin defeats, losing both the men's doubles and mixed doubles pre-quarterfinals.
In men's doubles, Satwik and Chirag Shetty, ranked 15th in the world, ran out of steam after a decent start against fourth-seeded Japanese pair of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda and went down 19-21 8-21 in the second-round match that lasted 33 minutes.
This is the second time Satwik and Chirag have lost to the combination of Kamura and Sonoda this year. They had lost to the world no.4 pair at the Japan Open in July.
Satwik then paired up with his mixed doubles partner Ashwini Ponanappa but the duo couldn't get past Yuki Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo, losing 11-21 21-16 12-21 to the Japanese pair.
Sindhu, who came into the match with a 3-0 lead against Pornpawee, dominated the first game as she lead 7-1 early on but the Thai shuttler reduced the deficit to 10-11 at the break.
However, Sindhu reeled off eight straight points after the interval to jump to 19-10 and eventually sealed the first game comfortably.
In the second game, Pornpawee changed gears and moved to a 5-1 advantage initially. Sindhu clawed back to 7-9 before the Thai youngster jumped to 15-7 with six straight points and held her fort to roar back into the contest.
The decider started on an even note as the duo fought hard, moving together till 6-6 when Sindhu surged ahead to enjoy a 11-7 cushion at the break.
However, Pornpawee kept breathing down Sindhu's neck and slowly moved to 15-19. From there, the Thai shuttler blasted six points to leave the Indian shocked.
Among other Indians in fray, Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth will also be in action, while Ponnappa and N Siki Reddy will take on the second seeded Japanese duo of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi in the second round of the women's doubles competition.
Newly crowned World Champion Sindhu lost to World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying 21-16, 24-26, 21-17 in an intense last-eight match which lasted for 75 minutes on Friday night. It was a fierce battle between the two ace shuttlers as long rallies, jaw-dropping drops and never-say-die attitude were on display in a gruelling quarter-final clash at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin.
Earlier, Saina's campaign in the Super 750 tournament came to an end after she lost her quarter-final clash to South Korean teenager An Se Young. In a contest that lasted for almost 50 minutes, the 17-year-old from Korea defeated Saina 22-20, 23-21 to enter the semis of the competition.
However, there was good news for India's top-ranked men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty who continued with their imperious form and shocked Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen to enter the semi-finals.
The Indian duo, which had claimed its maiden Super 500 title at the Thailand Open in August this year, shocked the World No 8 Danish 21-13, 22-20 in a 39-minute quarter-final encounter.
This is the second time on the trot that the pair has reached the last four of the Super 750 tournament.
Satwik and Chirag will now take on the Japanese fifth seeds Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe for a berth in the finals.
Satwik and Chirag, who had won their maiden Super 500 title at the Thailand Open in August, notched up a 21-11 25-23 win over the fifth seeded Japanese combination in a 56-minute semifinal on Saturday.
The duo's effort is commendable as this is the first time an Indian men's doubles pair has reached a World Tour 750 final.
They will now look to become the first Indian pair to win a Super 750 title on the BWF circuit when they take on top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the final on Sunday night.
If they win, they will become the first all-Indian pair to win the French Open since Partho Ganguli and Vikram Singh did it in 1983.
Currently perched at a career-high World No. 11 ranking, their series of top-10 wins this week will help them inch closer to the highly-coveted top-10 spot and a berth at the Tokyo Olympics next year.
It's their composure under pressure that has been the very reason for their continued success and rapid improvement, something Chirag Shetty himself pointed out.
"It really feels good to be playing in the French Open final today and hopefully if we are able to keep the calm and patience that we have shown for the past one week, then I think we definitely stand a chance to win," he said.
Satwik and Chirag had come into the match with a 0-2 head-to-head record against the Japanese combination, having lost to them at the 2018 Indonesia Open and 2017 World Championship.
The Indian pair took the first game easily in just 15 minutes, using the smash to good effect, but Satwik and Chirag were under a bit of pressure early in the second game.
However, they came back strongly to lead 11-8 at the mid-break. This was after the Japanese had taken a 8-6 lead owing to a few errors from the racquet of Satwik.
The Japanese pair fought hard in a dramatic second game and saved multiple match points, but the determined Indian duo eventually emerged victorious with their brilliant play that was a mix of attack and defence, a far cry from the one-dimensional approach that punctuated their game in the past.
They are the only remaining Indian challenge at the USD 7,00,000 event following the defeat of reigning world champion and Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and Olympic bronze winner Saina Nehwal at the quarterfinals stage.
They had become the first Indian team to triumph at the Super 500 when they triumphed at the Thailand Open in August.
At the French capital this week, they have taken it up a level further with their confident strokeplay against some of the best teams in the world.
Reigning world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, one of the most experienced pairs to play the sport, fell to the Indians' variety and superb teamwork.
After securing their biggest career win against the World No. 2 duo, they kept that impressive run going against World No. 8 Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and World No. 6 Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe to set up a summit showdown with the World No. 1 pair.
The winning mentality and never-say-die attitude have set them on the path to glory. At the French Open, only Kidambi Srikanth has so far tasted success from among the Indians ever since the tournament was upgraded to a Superseries level in 2007.
Saina Nehwal was the only other Indian to make it to the final in 2012.
Rankireddy and Shetty played their hearts out to get the better of their Japanese opponents 21-18 21-23 21-11 in a pulsating second round contest that lasted an hour and six minutes.
For Rankireddy and Shetty, who had reached the French Open final last month, the latest win is their second straight over Endo and Watanabe. The Indians had defeated the Japanese duo in straight games in Paris last month.
Rankireddy and Shetty will face Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Rankireddy and Shetty were the lone Indians left in the tournament after the others bite the dust on Thursday.
Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth were both ousted in the second round of the men's singles event.
World No. 11 Praneeth fought hard for one hour 24 minutes against fourth seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark before going down 20-22 22-20 21-16.
Kashyap, ranked 25 in the world, ran out of steam after a decent start against seventh seed Victor Axelsen and went down 13-21 19-21 in a match that lasted 43 minutes. Praneeth's loss marked the end of India's campaign in the singles.
This is the second time Kashyap had lost to Axelsen this year. The former Commonwealth Games champion, who reached the semifinals of India Open and Korea Open earlier this year, had lost to the world number six at the India Open in March.
It was also the end of the road for the mixed doubles pair of Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa. The unseeded Indian duo lost 21-23 16-21 to fifth seeds Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yujung of South Korea.
The India duo went down 16-21, 20-22 to the World No.1 pairing of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo from Indonesia in the 40-minute affair.
The Indians put up a strong fight, especially in the second game. However, they couldn't stop their opponent from clinching the match.
Earlier, Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy had defeated the Chinese pair of Li Junhui-Liu Yu Chen 21-19, 21-15 to enter the men's doubles semis. '
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa, however, entered the mixed doubles semifinal with a stunning win over world no. 6 pair of Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh of Malaysia in a nail-bitting quarterfinal duel.
Olympic silver medallist Sindhu looked a pale shadow of the player who had won the world championship gold in 2019 as she was all at sea against home favourite Ratchanok Inthanon, who rode on her precision and quality of strokes to outclass the Indian 21-13 21-9 in a lop-sided contest.
In men's singles, Sameer's giant-killing run also came to an end after he squandered a match point to go down 13-21 21-19 20-22 to world no. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a quarterfinal contest.
With the defeat of Sindhu and Sameer, Indian challenge in singles competition ended in the tournament.
The only bright spot was the duo of Satwik and Ashwini as they shocked the fifth seeded Malaysian pair 18-21 24-22 22-20 after toiling hard for one hour and 15 minutes.
The world no. 22 Indian pair will be up against top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand.
Ratchanok, who had lost to Sindhu in their last three meetings, came out with a positive intent and eked out a three-point lead early on even as Sindhu failed to control the length. The Thai soon grabbed a four-point advantage at the first-game interval.
Sindhu looked to force the pace after the break and caught up at 13-13. However, it was a one-way traffic after that as Ratchanok blew the Indian away with eight straight points to pocket the opening game without much ado.
The change of sides didn't bring any change of fortunes for Sindhu as she trailed 1-7 at one stage before going into the break seven points behind her rival.
After the breather, Ratchanok eased to 19-7 before grabbing a massive 12 match points. The Thai missed a point due to a misjudgement at the backline before shutting the match with another precise return.
In the other singles match, Antonsen was up 5-0 with Sameer looking tentative and struggling with his length, hitting long and wide. The Danish shuttler continued his good run, managing to keep a six-point advantage at the break.
Sameer couldn't engage his rival in long rallies or put any kind of pressure and also struggled with his shots as Antonsen cantered to eight game points and took the opening game when the Indian went wide again.
After the change of sides, Antonsen opened up a 5-1 lead but Sameer managed to claw back with four straight points. A brilliant cross court net shot helped the Indian to keep it 7-7 before he took the lead as his opponent erred.
However, at the interval, it was Antonsen who held a slender one-point lead. Sameer kept breathing down his neck and grabbed a game point with an onrushing return. He roared back into the contest when Antenson faltered at the net.
The decider started on a competitive note as the duo were 5-5 at one stage before Sameer moved to 9-6 with a few tricky shots and then held three-point advantage at the interval.
Antonsen regained his focus and drew parity at 13-13 after Sameer erred twice at the net. It was a game of nerves after that as both the shuttlers moved neck-and-neck till 18-18. Sameer then pushed one to the net and won a video referral next to move to 19-19.
Sameer grabbed a match point next with a deep return but found the net next as it was 20-all.
Antonsen grabbed a match point with a precise return at the fore court and sealed the match with a similar shot which the Indian failed to reach.
(PTI)