Shuttlers PV Sindhu, Prannoy Reach French Open Semis

Prannoy became the first Indian man to enter the semi-final of the event ever since it became a Superseries in 2007.

PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

World Championship silver medallist PV Sindhu beat Chen Yufei of China in straight games to storm into the women's singles semi-final of the French Super Series, in Paris on Friday, 27 October.

HS Prannoy also entered the semi-finals of theA $325,000 Superseries after defeating South Korea's Jeon Hyeok Jin 21-16, 21, 16 in the men's singles quarter-finals.

He became the first Indian man to enter the semi-final of the event ever since it became a Superseries in 2007.

Sindhu, on the other hand, took just 41 minutes to brush the challenge of World No. 10 Yufei 21-14 21-14 in the quarter-finals.

By virtue of this win, Indian had avenged upon her opening round loss to the Chinese at the Denmark Open, last week.

Sindhu, who had defeated Yufei at the World Championships, now lead the Chinese 3-2 in the overall head- to-head record.

Sindhu was in her element as she used her long reach and court coverage to flummox her opponent and get the better of her with consummate ease.

Sindhu, seeded second, always enjoyed the upperhand in the duel, except for the first 10 points of the opening game where it was neck-and-neck battle between the duo.

But once she surged ahead 12-10, there was no looking back as Sindhu controlled the game from there on with deft drop shots and down the line and cross court smashes to race to 18-12 lead.

Yufei managed to grab two points but unforced errors cost her dearly as she pushed a drop shot wide to hand the Indian the first game in 19 minutes.

Sindhu, however, was slow to get off the blocks in the second game as Yufei took a 3-0 lead.

But the Indian managed to claw her way back, courtesy unforced errors from the Chinese to draw level at 5-5.

From there on, Sindhu controlled the proceedings, except for a few unforced errors in between, to take a 11-7 lead at the break.

The Indian then managed to hold to her lead and pocketed the second game in 22 minutes to wrap up the issue.

Sindhu will next play the winner of another quarter-final between third seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea and Japanese fifth seed Akane Yamaguchi on Saturday, 28 October.

(With inputs from IANS and PTI)

(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT to find #PollutionKaSolution. Send in your suggestions to [e-mail] or WhatsApp @ [phone])