PV Sindhu finds her form! Storms into semi-finals of England Open

Birmingham, Mar 20: In what turned out to be one of the best performances for a long time, PV Sindhu displayed a spectacular performance in a scintillating quarterfinal victory over Akane Yamaguchi at the All England Open on Friday.

 

 

The reigning world badminton champion came from behind to beat Akane 16-21, 21-16, 21-19 in 76 minutes long match to reach the semi-finals of the tournament. Though Sindhu lost the first set, she staged a thrilling comeback in the second set.

 

The hard-fought game saw rallies getting longer and longer in the third set. At one point, Sindhu was leading the decider 11-15 but Akane bounced back to with four consecutive points.

 

 

 

 

However, the India shuttler shifted gears in the final minutes of the play to win the quarter-final match on Friday. Sindhu will now lock horns with Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand on Saturday.

 

The Indian, who had a disappointing early season at the Asian Leg in Bangkok, appeared to have rediscovered her intensity and aggression. With Yamaguchi also forcing the pace, the match showcased some great badminton between the two attack-minded opponents.

 

“I was very focussed,” Sindhu said. “I’m happy about reaching the semifinals but it’s not over yet. I’ll be playing against Pornpawee (Chochuwong), and I don’t want to think about our previous matches. It’s going to be a new match.”

 

 

“The Asian Leg wasn’t good for me. I was really focussed after that, and the training was good. Beating Mia (Blichfeldt) in the Swiss Open was very important; I’d lost to her in Bangkok.”

 

“Against Yamaguchi it was always a long match and I was prepared for that. It was important for me to keep my focus despite losing the first game. Even though it was tiring I pushed myself.

 

“I am playing against Yamaguchi after a long time, I think the last we played was in 2019. I’m sure she would have trained very hard. Today’s match was a good, tough long match. Every point was very important. Overall, it was anybody’s game but I’m happy to be on the winning side.”