India’s two-time Olympic medal-winning shuttler P V Sindhu got here again from a sport all the way down to beat South Korea’s Sim Yujin and enter the semifinals of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 match right here on Friday.
Third seed Sindhu, the reigning world champion, needed to toil arduous to get the higher of Yujin 14-21 21-19 21-14 within the quarterfinal that lasted an hour and 6 minutes. The Indian will now play the winner of the opposite quarterfinal between Japan’s Asuka Takahashi and second seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand within the USD 850,000 occasion.
The different India in fray, B Sai Praneeth will play Olympic champion and former world No.1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark within the males’s singles quarterfinals later within the day. Praneeth, world no.16, staved off a spirited combat from France’s world no 70 Christo Popov, claiming a 21-17 14-21 21-19 win in a gruelling second spherical match on Thursday.
India’s problem additionally exists within the males’s doubles occasion the place the sixth seeded pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, ranked 11, will sq. off in opposition to the Malaysian mixture of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin within the quarterfinals afterward Friday.
It was not easy crusing from Sindhu in opposition to Yujin. The Indian began confidently racing to a 7-1 lead earlier than the Japanese pocketed six straight factors to attract the primary sport degree. But as soon as Yujin took a slender 11-10 lead on the break, she didn’t look again and received the sport comfortably to seize the early momentum.
The Japanese continued in the identical vein within the second sport and matched Sindhu stroke for stroke until the primary seven factors earlier than the Indian upped her sport. Sindhu displayed higher management and authority over her strokes and engaged her rival in lengthy rallies to surge forward 14-8 earlier than Yujin fought again.
Sindhu used her huge expertise and held her nerves to attract the competition degree. In the decider, Sindhu loved the early exchanges to race to a cushty 11-4 lead however the Japanese secured seven consecutive factors to make it 11-11.
Sensing hassle, Sindhu took her sport to the following degree simply on the proper time to outwit her rival and seal the match in her favour.
