Star Indian shuttler defeats defending champion in staright sets to enter semis; Saina, Praneeth bow out of the tourney
Star Indian shuttler P V Sindhu avenged her heart-breaking summit clash defeat against Nozomi Okuhara last year as she produced a dominant display to beat her Japanese rival in straight games to storm into the semifinals of the World Championships here on Friday.
Sindhu defeated Okuhara 21-17, 21-19 in a 58-minute quarterfinal match to be assured of a medal in the showpiece event. She faces World No 2 and another Japanese Akane Yamaguchi in the semifinals on Saturday in her bid to reach her second straight final.
Yamaguchi had defeated Sindhu in the final of Dubai Superseries Finals last year.
This will be Sindhu's fourth medal from the World Championships as she has already won two Bronze and a Silver.
Sindhu had lost to Okuhara in the final last year 19-21, 22-20, 20-22 but on Friday, it was the Indian who got the upper hand.
In both the games today, Okuhara led initially but Sindhu was able to come back to take the honours. The Rio Olympics Silver medallist Indian dished out her wide array of tricks in her armoury — the angled strokes, flat as well as steep smashes, drop shots, net placement and strokes to the deep court of her rival.
The win by Sindhu meant that the head-to-head record between the two is now levelled at 6-6.
After the World Championships final last year, they had played five times against each other, including Friday's match, and Sindhu have won three of them as against two by Okuhara.
Sindhu had lost to Okuhara in the final of the Thailand Open just prior to this tournament.
In the first game, Okuhara took an early 6-2 as she executed a brilliant cross-court half-smash, leaving Sindhu completely stranded.
Sindhu came back strongly as she got behind the shuttle early and not giving Okuhara time to react and sending shuttle from her front court to Okuhara's back. She clawed her way back to 5-7 and after Okuhara hit the net, the score was tied at 8-8.
Another error of judgment from Okuhara gave Sindhu the lead for the first time and then she extended it to 10-8 before going to the break 11-10.
The Indian maintained the lead at 14-12 with a superb down-the-line smash. Okuhara hit net twice and it was 17-15 for Sindhu. Then follwing a 35 shot rally which ended with a smash down the line, Sindhu was 19-15 up and reached game point with a drop shot after a 30-shot rally.
Okuhar came back to be at 17-20 but Sindhu pocketed the first game with a superb net placement.
Okuhara took an early 4-0 lead in the second game. Sindhu produced an exquisite stroke, a flat backhand onto Okuhara's deep corner, but she trailed 2-5. Sindhu then gave away some easy points to Okuhara as she was 3-9 behind.
Okuhara took an 11-8 lead at break but Sindhu came back to level it at 11-11 with three straight points as she mixed up her strokes well.
It was a tight affair as both the players gave nothing away. The score was level at 16-16 but from then onwards Sindhu stepped up the gas to grab the second game and win the match.
Sindhu is now the only Indian left in the fray.
Meanwhile, Saina Nehwal's impressive run came to a disappointing end at the World Championships as she suffered a straight-game loss to two-time champion Carolina Marin.
In the men's qurterfinals, B Sai Praneeth was no match to Kento Momota of Japan as he lost 12-21, 12-21 in just 39 minutes.
Mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy also couldn't cross the quarterfinal hurdle, losing 17-21, 10-21 to top seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong of China.
In the Saina vs Marin match, it turned out to be a lop-sided contest between the 2015 edition finalists as reigning Olympic champion Spanish once again produced her 'A' game on the big occasion to complete an emphatic 21-6, 21-11 victory.
A 5-4 head-to-head count meant little as Marin dismantled Saina with consummate ease. The Spaniard stamped her authority on the match, parading the court and screaming her heart out after winning every point.
"Her movement was very quick today. She was moving so fast and covering the court very quickly. The kind of shots that she played, it seemed like she was suddenly very fast. Also I had a late match yesterday so to face someone so quick was difficult. I didn't understand what to do, she never gave me a chance to play my game," Saina told reporters.
No 1s Tai and Axelsen lose
No 1s Tai Tzu Ying and Viktor Axelsen were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the badminton world championships on Friday.
Tai's defeat was the biggest surprise, as the Taiwanese lost for only the second time this year in 37 matches.
She was beaten by He Bingjiao of China 21-18, 7-21, 21-13. After dropping the first game, Tai stormed back in the second, but was unable to maintain her momentum in the third.
The win represented payback of sorts for He, who lost to Tai in the Malaysia Open final in June and the Indonesia Open semifinals last month. She's through to her first world's semifinal.
Tai, yet to win the worlds, lost in the quarterfinals at her fourth straight worlds.
Axelsen, a Dane, became the first European male winner of the worlds in 20 years last year, ending Chen long's two-year reign. Chen repaid him by ending Axelsen's one-year reign by winning 21-19, 21-11 in an hour.
Axelsen committed multiple unforced errors and struggled to find a rhythm as he allowed Chen to dictate the pace and find his spots.
Chen will next face Chinese compatriot Shi Yuqi, who narrowly beat Taiwan's Chou Tien Cheng 16-21, 21-15, 21-18 in a come-from-behind victory.
Shi was down 15-7 in the third game before ripping off 14 of the next 17 points to complete the comeback.
Chen holds a 4-1 career advantage over Shi, but lost their last meeting in the All England quarterfinals, a tournament Shi went on to win.
Meanwhile, the unseeded Darin liew, who trains independently of the Malaysia team, reached the semifinals, his first at the worlds at age 30 and his first anywhere since January. liew beat Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan 22-20, 21-23, 22-20, after blowing three match points in the second game.
Also, Akane Yamaguchi gained revenge against Chen Yufei, who knocked out the Japanese star in the third round last year at her first worlds. Yamaguchi won the rematch 21-13, 17-21, 21-16 in 68 minutes. She is a former two-time junior world champion who became in April the first Japanese male or female to rank No 1.