Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu eked out a three-game win over world #1 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan to make it to the semifinals of the Thailand Open Super 500 match right here on Friday.
The sixth-seeded Indian prevailed 21-15 20-22 21-13 over the second-seeded Japanese in 51 minutes to arrange a conflict with Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei of China.
The final time the duo performed, the match was marred by controversy with Sindhu being penalised some extent by the umpire for delaying techniques throughout the Badminton Asia Championships semifinals.
Sindhu got here into the match with a 13-9 head-to-head report and dished out one other superb efficiency to notch up her 14th victory over the reigning World Champion.
Nothing separated the 2 within the preliminary part with Sindhu relying on her cross courtroom slices and drops to bother Yamaguchi, who blew a three-point result in permit the Indian transfer to a 11-9 break.
Yamaguchi reeled off 5 match factors, just for Sindhu return the favor with seven straight factors to maneuver to a 19-14 lead.
Sindhu, nevertheless, despatched the shuttle lengthy earlier than transferring to 5 recreation factors and sealing it when an off-balance Yamaguchi despatched the shuttle to the online once more.
Yamaguchi appeared a bit passive as her actions weren’t easy and recreation erratic, permitting Sindhu to leap to a 11-5 benefit on the interval after profitable 10 of the final 11 factors with out a lot ado.
Sindhu produced a smash on her rival’s backhand after which adopted it up with one other cross courtroom return to collect many factors.
After the break, Sindhu was referred to as for a service fault and shortly Yamaguchi fought her option to 11-13 earlier than going lengthy. The Japanese performed some good photographs to claw again at 16-16.
A fast smash and a exact on the road return gave two recreation factors to the Japanese. Sindhu saved two however faltered on her serve after which despatched the shuttle lengthy because the match went to the decider.
Sindhu went into the mid-game invervals with a six level benefit within the third recreation. Yamaguchi gave the impression to be dealing with drawback along with her again, which affected her strokeplay.
Sindhu led 15-11 when Yamaguchi dedicated errors in her return to serve. The Indian quickly unleashed her smashes and one other punch-clear gave her eight match factors, which she transformed on second try.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
