Singapore Open: Sindhu reaches semi-final; Saina, Prannoy crash out

Singapore, July 15, 2022

Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu registered a thrilling win over China's Han Yue to reach the semi-final but her compatriots Saina Nehwal and H S Prannoy crashed out after suffering heartbreaking defeats in their respective quarter-final matches in the Singapore Open 2022 here on Friday.

World No 7 Sindhu came from behind to beat world No 19 Han Yue 17-21, 21-11, 21-19 in the quarter-finals, which lasted for one hour and 2 minutes.

With the win, she set up a semi-final clash against Japan's Saena Kawakami, who upset Thai shuttler Pornpawee Chochuwong in her final eight clash.

The Indian shuttler made a slow start and trailed her Chinese opponent 11-14 before scoring four back-to-back points to take the lead. Han Yue, however, continued to trouble Sindhu with her deft touches and went on to win the first game.

The second game, too, started as a tight affair with Sindhu going on the offensive but Han Yue stayed on her coat-tails. But with the score at 14-11, the two-time Olympic medallist stepped up and took the next seven points to force a decider.

In the all-important third game, Han Yue raced to a 14-9 lead and put the Indian ace on the backfoot. The Indian ace, however, dug deep and turned the tables with a flurry of seven points and proceeded to wrap up the match.

However, London 2012 bronze medallist Saina failed to join Sindhu in the semi-finals after going down 13-21, 21-15, 20-21 to Japan's Aya Ohori in a closely-fought match.The 32-year old Saina conceded a 19-16 lead in the decider to crash out of the BWF Super 500 tournament.

In men's singles, in-form Prannoy won the first game against Japan's Kodai Naraoka but couldn't make the advantage count as he lost 21-12, 14-21, 18-21 in just over an hour.

Meanwhile, men's doubles pair M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila's campaign also came to a close after losing their final eight clash 21-10, 18-21, 17-21 against Indonesian second seeds Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.

IANS