PV Sindhu Marches Into Quarters, Faces World Number 2 Next

PV Sindhu is currently ranked 10th in the world. (Photo: Reuters)

India’s campaign in women’s singles badminton has been kept alive by PV Sindhu’s resounding show of domination against Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei in the round of 16.

Playing late on Monday night, the Indian shuttler didn’t let up much throughout the match against the world number 8 as she closed out the game with a 21-13, 21-15 scoreline.

Sindhu, who has a 2-4 record against Tai Tzu, having beaten her last at the Denmark Open last year, opened up a 3-1 lead early on and even though Tai came back to draw level at 5-5, the Indian managed to lead 11-6 at the break. Tai depended on her deceptive game to reduce the margin to 10-12 but she was equally erratic with her placements sometimes, while Sindhu showed better presence of mind.

Sindhu won a video referral to reach the game point at 20-13 and then pocketed it comfortably with Tai hitting wide.

(Photo: Reuters)

After the change of ends, Sindhu once again moved to a 3-1 lead but she erred twice on her backhand returns to give away two points. Tai tried to take away the pace from the rallies and came up with a few down the line smashes to make it 6-6 after Sindhu dropped her serve.

However, Tai’s inability to rein in her unforced errors saw Sindhu lead 11-6 at the interval. Tai tried to put pressure on Sindhu but failed to give the finishing touch as Sindhu sailed away to a 14-7 lead. With Sindhu in full flow, Tai seemed clueless and was not able to play her own game, staying away from the net.

The Chinese Taipei girl found it difficult to control the shuttle and hit long twice to allow Sindhu a lead of 17-11. A couple of drop shots deflected by the net chord took Sindhu to 19-12 before Tai sent one to the net to gift eight match points to Sindhu.

Tai saved three match points before another long shot saw Sindhu seal the issue in her favour.

(Photo: AP)

Sindhu now joins Kidambi Srikanth in the quarterfinals of the badminton singles event with Saina Nehwal already out in the group round. However, the world number 10 will next face her toughest challenger in the tournament so far, Yihan Wang of China, the current world number 2 and London Games silver medalist.