Sindhu beats Intanon, enters India Open final

New Delhi, February 3 

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Defending champion PV Sindhu stood just one step away from retaining her title after defeating Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon in a lop-sided semifinal at the $350,000 India Open.

Sindhu dished out an aggressive game to outwit world No. 3 Ratchanok 21-13 21-15 in the second semifinal at the Siri Fort Sports Complex. The Rio Olympics silver medallist will face world No. 11 American Beiwen Zhang in the final. Zhang entered the final after edging out sixth seeded Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong 14-21 21-12 21-19 in the first women's singles semifinal.

The Indian mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy went down 16-21 19-21 against the fifth seeded Danish pair of Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen in a semifinal match, which saw the Indian duo winning four video referrals. Mathias and Christinna had combined at the Denmark Open for the first time and it is their third final of a major event after having finished runners-up at the China Open Super Series Premier and Hong Kong Open Super Series last year. — PTI

Results

PV Sindhu bt Ratchanok Intanon 21-13 21-15, M Christiansen/Christinna Pedersen bt Pranaav Jerry Chopra/N Sikki Reddy 21-16 21-19, Beiwen Zhang bt Cheung Ngan Yi 14-21 21-12 21-19, Shi Yuqi bt Iskandar Zulkarnain 18-21 21-10 21-19, Chou Tien Chen bt Qiao Bin 23-21 21-16, Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu bt 21-14 19 -21 21-18 Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen