Bali, (Samajweekly) Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and men’s doubles duo of Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy entered the semi-finals of the 2021 Indonesia Open after winning their respective matches, here on Friday.
Sindhu survived a tough test against South Korean shuttler Sim Yujin and she had to work for her 14-21, 21-19, 21-14 victory in the quarter-finals, to enter the women’s singles semi-finals.
The South Korean’s creative strokes caught the Indian off guard in the first game as she took a 21-14 lead in the first. Sindhu recovered in the second game and raced to a 14-7 lead but a resilient Yujin clawed her way back and ensured a tight finish. The reigning World Champion eventually took it 21-19 to level up the score.
The decider saw the two shuttlers go toe-to-toe in the opening exchanges and the score was tied at 11 apiece just after the midway interval. However, Sindhu was at her usual best from there and dominated the rest of the game, and settled the match in 66 minutes.
Sindhu will now face Thai ace Ratchanok Intanon, the world No 8, in the semi-finals of the Super 1000 tournament. Intanon beat Japan’s Asuka Takahashi 21-17, 21-12 in her quarter-final match.
Notably, this will be the two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu’s third successive semi-final appearance after the French Open and Indonesia Masters.
Later, the men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin 21-19 21-19 in a 43-minute men’s doubles quarterfinal, to enter the semifinals.
However, B Sai Praneeth lost 12-21, 8-21 in straight games to Tokyo Olympic champion and second seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the men’s singles quarter-finals.
The Dane had defeated Praneeth’s compatriot, Kidambi Srikanth, in the round of 16.
