Sindhu shown the door, Saina moves ahead

Odense (Denmark), October 16

Saina Nehwal rallied to carve out a hard-fought opening win but PV Sindhu crashed out of the Denmark Open with a stunning loss to American Beiwen Zhang. Saina defeated Hong Kong’s Ngan Yi Cheung 20-22 21-17 24-22 in a draining clash that lasted 81 minutes. However, Sindhu lost 17-21 21-16 18-21 to Zhang in a tough opening encounter that lasted 56 minutes.

Saina and Cheung were involved in a see-saw battle that went down to the last point with the Indian saving two match points in the final game to emerge triumphant. Saina was guilty of frittering away a match point of her own when she led 20-19 in the final game.

For Sindhu, this was the third consecutive time that she lost to Zhang. The American shuttler defeated Sindhu in the Indian Open final in February this year. Sindhu is going through a difficult phase after winning the silver medal in the Jakarta Asian Games. She was knocked out in the second round of the Japan Open, and  in quarters in the China Open. — PTI