Indian badminton icon PV Sindhu progressed to the semi-final round of the Thailand Open by thumping world number 1, Akane Yamaguchi.
Sindhu won the tie 21-15, 20-22, 21-13 winning the first and third games of the match as she succumbed to a narrow loss in her second game.
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Sindhu set up the clash with Yamaguchi after beating world number 46 Sim Yu Jin of South Korea in straight games.
World number 1 Yamaguchi was far from her usual self as she dropped the opening game against the Indian shuttler. She drew level with her win in the second game, but, Sindhu made sure that she would emerge victorious to fight another day in Thailand as she took control of the game and progressed in the tournament by easing to victory in the third and final game of the fixture.
In the very first game of the match, Yamaguchi raced to the lead, heading the game 5-8. But, Sindhu was quick to react as she fought her way back to the front and lead 11-9.
It was the Japanese players’ chance to counter next and she drew level pegging the Indian back to a score of 14 each. But, from there, Sindhu took three straight points to lead 17-14 before going on to take the game at 21-15.
The second game, however, did not go according to Sindhu’s plans. At one point, she was up by a score of 11-5 in the second game, but let her concentration slip and Yamaguchi capitalised on it to fight back and took the lead at 16-17 before going on to close the game at 20-22.
Both shuttles had won one game heading into the decider.
The third game was more evenly contested as both players displayed grit to peg each other back at 7 each. Sindhu took the initiative and picked up a series of points to lead the game 11-7. And there was no looking back from there for the Indian ace as she rushed to a 21-13 victory in the game to close see the match out.
The next challenge for Sindhu in the final four comes in the form of Olympic champions Chen Yufei.
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