Olympic silver medallist shuttler P V Sindhu produced a top-notched performance to eke out a thrilling three-game victory over 2016 champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan to progress to her maiden semifinal at the $1000,000 All England Championship here on Friday.
The quarterfinal clash lived up to its billing as Sindhu and Okuhara strained every sinew to dish out yet another nail-biting contest at the Arena Birmingham.
It boiled down to finding the right balance of aggression and patience and Sindhu ensured that she had the last laugh as she outwitted Okuhara 20-22, 21-18, 21-18 in a battle that lasted an hour and 24 minutes here. With this victory, Sindhu registered her fifth win over the Nagano-born World No 6 Japanese, who robbed her of a World Championship gold at Glasgow after a 110 minute marathon battle which went down in history as one of the greatest.
Seventh seeded Okuhara used long tosses and clears and cross court drops to make Sindhu run around the court.
Sindhu was equally up to the task and the result was that the duo split the initial eight points.
Sindhu gained a 6-4 lead briefly after an unsuccessful referral by Okuhara. However, a bad judgement at the baseline by Sindhu saw the score levelled.
The Indian again grabbed the slender two point lead when her opponent hit wide twice.
The duo moved neck and neck from 16-16 to 19-19. Okuhara then sent one over the back line to hand over a game point to Sindhu, whose return got buried at the net after breaking the strings of her racquet as it was 20-20.
There was absolutely no let up in intensity after the change of sides as the duo engaged in a battle of attrition again. Sindhu managed a 3-1 lead initially but Okuhara made it 6-4 before Sindhu drew parity after the Japanese hit the net twice. The Indian unleashed an explosive cross court smash to grab the lead. Okuhara then left one at the back line but Sindhu served long next.
However, the marginal lead evaporated instantly after the interval as Okuhara used her drops to good use.
In the decider, Okuhara looked to assert her supremacy early on as she moved to 4-1 lead.
A thunderous smash followed from the Indian who produced another smashing return to narrow the gap to 4-5. Sindhu then drew parity at 6-6 when Okuhara found the net.
After the breather, Okuhara extended her lead to 14-11. A reverse slice gave Sindhu a point but she committed two unforced errors as Okuhara jumped to 16-12.
Sindhu then closed out the net and sent Okuhara to the corners with her acute returns to reel off four points to level par. She went long next before unleashing another powerful smash to grab the lead. But she was handed a yellow card for slow play. She fought back with a reverse slice to move to 18-17 but a desperate return ended at the net.
The Indian dominated the net next and then sent one to the back line to grab two match points and then sealed the contest with another precise on-the-line return, much to the delight of the Indian fans.
Srikanth bows out
Kidambi Srikanth crashed out after suffering a narrow defeat to China's Huang Yuxiang in the $1000,000 All England Championship here.
The world no 3 had defeated Yuxiang, ranked 42, to claim the 2016 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold title but Srikanth failed to see off the unseeded Chinese at the Arena Birmingham, losing 11-21 21-15 20-22 in a 52 minute battle.
"I didn't start well but then I came back really well in both the games. I missed out on easy points in the third," Srikanth said.
"Well, there were too many service faults in opening game. I didn't expect that to happen. Yesterday I didn't get any, today it was totally changed. That should not happen in a tournament. There should be a specific rule."
The umpire couldn't find faults yesterday (on Wednesday) but today the umpire sitting found too many faults. It is ridiculous," an upset Srikanth said.