Rio Olympics Silver medallist PV Sindhu on Friday stormed into the women's singles semi-final of the World Badminton Championships after beating China's Sun Yu 21-14, 21-9.
Sindhu, who is a double bronze medalist at World Championships, did not break a sweat in the clash and sailed to an easy victory over the Chinese fifth seed.
The world No.4 Indian will next take on another Chinese and world No.10 Chen Yufei, who saw off former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.
Sindhu dished out an aggressive game and never looked in doubt as she led from start to finish during the 39-minute lop-sided match. Sun, on the other hand, looked out of sorts and nervous.
In the first game, Sindhu led 5-4, which she extended to 8-4. The duo then engaged in one of the longest rallies that had 39 shots. Sindhu eventually sealed it with a half cross court smash and quickly grabbed a 11-4 lead at the break when Sun made a wrong judgement at the baseline.
Playing the faster side of the court, Sindhu tried to make her opponent bend and move across the court with her acute-angled strokes. She sometimes used her deception and changed her pace to outwit the Chinese.
The result was Sindhu quickly moved to 15-5 lead. Sun reduced the margin to 10-16 but Sindhu eventually earned seven game points with a smart return at the forecourt that left her opponent stranded.
Sindhu faltered with a return before sealing the first game with a lovely drop shot.
The second game started with another long rally which Sindhu won with an onrushing body smash. The Indian continued to pile on the pressure to lead 11-4 at the interval.
The breather didn't bring any respite for Sun as Sindhu moved to 18-8. Frustration was clear on the face of Sun, who tried her bit to upstage the Indian but Sindhu seemed to have all the answers as she reached 11 match points with a low cross court flick. She sealed the contest when Sun went long once again.
