Sindhu comes from behind in thriller

PTI

Paris, March 7

India’s PV Sindhu produced another impressive show as she rallied to a three-game win over USA’s Beiwen Zhang to advance to the women’s singles quarterfinals but it was curtains for Kidambi Srikanth at the French Open Super 750 today.

Playing her first BWF tour event since returning from a knee injury, Sindhu battled her way from an opening-game loss to outgun world No. 10 Zhang 13-21 21-10 21-14 to enter her first quarterfinal of the season.

The world No. 11 will face Olympics champion and second seed Chen Yu Fei of China, who beat Denmark’s Line Christophersen 22-20 21-18.

Srikanth suffered yet another Round-of-16 loss, this time against Guang Zu. The defeat will rankle for a long time as he held a flawless 5-0 record against the Chinese ahead of the match, but lost 21-19 12-21 20-22 to the world No. 17 Chinese in 78 minutes.

The women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand shocked the seventh-seeded Japanese duo of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota 21-18 21-13.

Fighting spirit

In the women’s singles, Sindhu started the proceedings with a crosscourt winner but Zhang put up a defensive wall, engaging the Indian in long rallies dominated by high tosses and clears.

Sindhu struggled with the conditions, especially going for the backline, the Indian committed too many unforced errors to allow Zhang lead 11-7 and 14-9.

Zhang’s lifts repeatedly found the lines, while Sindhu missed time and again. Soon, the American re-established a five-point lead at 16-11 before grabbing eight game points. Zhang converted when Sindhu sprayed into the net again.

Zhang led 3-0 in the second game, but Sindhu levelled at 4-4 before pouncing on a return at the net to go 6-4 up.

She then soon started dictating terms in the rallies to move to 9-5, with her steep returns troubling Zhang. The Indian held an 11-7 lead at the break. It was a one-way traffic thereafter as Sindhu opened an eight-point gap, which Zhang could never bridge.

In the decider, Zhang took a 4-2 lead but Sindhu made it 5-5 after winning a 34-shot rally. Sindhu then moved to 8-5 before grabbing an 11-7 advantage. With Zhang struggling with the length, Sindhu held on to the four-point lead at 17-13 with another over-the-head smash. Another drop shot gave Sindhu six match points and she sealed it when Zhang made another error.

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