Kallang (Singapore): Former world champion PV Sindhu registered a thrilling win over China’s Han Yue to march through to the semifinal of the Singapore Open Super 500 badminton tournament here on Friday.
Sindhu comes from one game down to beat Han 17-21, 21-11, 21-19 in a thrilling quarterfinal match at the Singapore Indoor stadium. She will next play against Saena Kawakai of Japan to secure her spot in the final.
After losing the first game in a close contest. Sindhu turned the momentum in the second and pocketed the game to force the match into a decider and keep her semifinal hopes alive.
The deciding game witnessed intense action in the initial exchanges but it was Han who took a three-point lead at the time of the breather.
After the change of sides, Sindhu took seven points in a row from 9-14 down and held a 2-point lead. But Han was not ready to give up easily as she equalized at 16-all. Sindhu regained her lead with a couple of points and the Chinese again leveled it at 18-all.
The momentum kept swinging back and forth as none of the players held lead. The drama continued as the scores were tied 19-all and a match point awaited one of them.
In another moment, Sindhu reached the match point opportunity. Then, she went for a short lift to which Han reverted with a smash that went slightly above the wide line. Sindhu confidently challenged it to be out which she won and wrapped up the win to march through to the last four.
