Madrid masters: Patient PV Sindhu eases into quarters

Madrid, March 28

Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu continued her impressive run at the Madrid Spain Masters, advancing to the quarterfinals with a comfortable straight-game win over Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu-Hsun. Sindhu was hardly tested by the Taiwanese qualifier, ranked world No. 63, resulting in a 21-14 21-12 win in 36 minutes. The former world champion, who finished runner-up in the last edition, will take on sixth seed Supanida Katethong of Thailand next. Katethong defeated Japan’s Natsuki Nidaira 21-13 14-21 21-17.

In the opening game, Sindhu was 3-0 up initially but then entered a phase where she often found the net or went long while her rival produced some precise returns to grab a 11-10. The Indian, however, produced a better show after resumption, taking a 18-12 cushion with Yu-Hsun making errors. She soon grabbed eight game points, wasted two of them before sealing the opening game with her trademark smash.

After the change of sides, Yu-Hsun struggled to control the shuttle as her lifts repeatedly went long. The Taiwanese shuttler tried to use her drops and placements but she didn’t have power in her smashes. The result was Sindhu quietly waited for her opponent to commit errors. Soon she had a five-point advantage at the break. Every time Yu-Hsun tried to extend the rallies, she ended up with unforced errors. Soon a smash handed eight match points to Sindhu and she wrapped it up when her opponent caught the net again.

MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila entered the men’s doubles quarterfinals with a 21-17 21-19 win over Scotland’s Christopher Grimley and Matthew Grimley. The mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy entered the quarterfinals with a 22-20 21-18 win over USA’s Presley Smith and Allison Lee. In women’s doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa made it to the last-eight after notching up a 21-14 21-8 win over Tiffany Ho and Gronya Somerville of Australia.