PV Sindhu was the lone Indian to survive the pre-quarterfinals of the Thailand Open badminton tournament, as HS Prannoy, Parupalli Kashyap, the men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy fell in the Round of 16 on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_4338267” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
File photo of PV Sindhu. AFP[/caption] Second-seeded Sindhu, the Olympic 2016 silver medallist, crushed Hong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin 21-16, 21-14 in 37 minutes to set-up a quarter-final against Malaysian Soniia Cheah. Sindhu has taken a 4-0 advantage in career meetings against Yip. The Indian’s opponent on Friday, Soniia, had defeated Sindhu when they last met in 2011 at the U-19 Asia Youth Championships. In 2010 at the World Junior Championships, Sindhu had got better of the Malaysian. Meanwhile, a big upset took place in the women’s singles category when Aya Ohori of Japan stunned compatriot eight seed Sayaka Sato with a 9-21, 21-19, 21-18 victory in 49 minutes. Sindhu’s was last on the day from the Indian squad at the Nimibutr Stadium. Prior to her, all of India’s competitors lost one by one. The mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered a tame defeat against Japan’s Yuki Kaneko and Mayu Matsumoto, who took only 29 minutes to prevail 21-11, 21-16. Then, fourth seed Prannoy lost to Indonesian qualifier Sony Dwi Kuncoro in a shocking 18-21, 14-21 in 35 minutes, while 2012 Olympian Kashyap went down fighting to Japanese Kanta Tsuneyama. The Japanese won 21-18, 18-21, 21-19 in an hour and eight minutes. The men’s singles pair of Manu-Sumeeth lost to Japanese combine of Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe 24-22, 13-21, 19-21 in an hour and six minutes. With inputs from Agencies.
Highlights, Thailand Open 2018, badminton results: PV Sindhu beats Soniia Cheah in straight games to enter semis
Catch the live score and updates of the Thailand Open 2018 as India’s PV Sindhu takes on Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah in the quarter-finals
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PV Sindhu enters semis
The Indian shuttler was incredibly brilliant at the net as she wrapped up the second game and the match 21-17, 21-13 against Soniia Cheah to book a place in the last four of the women’s singles. Despite a slow start to the match, Sindhu never lost touch of her strokes from the net, which allowed her to control the tempo of the game.
She will now face Gregoria Mariska tomorrow.
20-11! NINE STRAIGHT POINTS FOR SINDHU.
It’s one-way traffic at the moment as the Indian looks set to clinch the match in straight games.
18-10!
Soniia is struggling to lift the bird from the tramlines. Sindhu is mercilessly attacking from the forecourt and running away with the lead.
16-10!
The Indian makes full use of the drift to attack the backcourt of her opponent. This strategy has worked well for Sindhu.
13-10!
Sindhu is going for deep corners after the break which is causing problems for Soniia. The Malaysian looks at her coach, who is asking his ward to calm down a little.
7-7!
Rare errors from Sindhu at the net allows Soniia to level the scores. The Malaysian is still hanging in.
7-4!
Sindhu is clearly comfortable playing from the mid-court. She has come up with a few variations.
4-2!
The second game gets underway and Sindhu is looking in great touch. The early net exchanges suggest that the Indian shuttler is trying to find angles to unsettle her opponent.
PV Sindhu wins first game: 21-17
Now that’s a brilliant comeback to take a 1-0 lead in this quarter-final contest. Soniia looked a bit jaded at the end of the first game as her opponent upped her net game to hit quick winners.
19-16!
Sindhu looks pumped up here after hitting a smash down the middle. Soniia looks completely baffled right now.
17-15!
Sindhu extends her lead by two points as she ups her game at the net to push Soniia towards the forecourt.
12-12!
Four straight points for Sindhu there. We are back to square one. The Indian shuttler targeted Soniia’s deep forehand.
Next up, India’s Sindhu takes on Soniia in the quarter-finals.
This will be the first meeting between the two young shuttlers. It has been an easy tournament for both as they enjoyed back-to-back straight-game victories.
Here’s the order of play:
Stay tuned for all the live updates.