PV Sindhu
Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu lost the quarterfinal match in the women's singles of the Malaysia Open badminton tournament on Friday. In a hard-fought three-game contest, Sindhu lost to Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.
Seventh-seeded Sindhu couldn't make it to the finals after the second-seeded Tai Tzu won by 13-21 21-15 21-13.
By virtue of the win, the Chinese Taipei shuttler extended her domination over the Indian ace, leading 16-5 on the head-to-head record.
Sindhu has now lost six matches on the trot against Tai Tzu.
On the other hand, HS Prannoy also made a quarterfinal exit, losing to seventh-seeded Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 18-21 16-21 in a 44-minute men's singles match.
After these two losses, the Indian challenge in the Super 750 event ended.
Sindhu, playing against drift, made a slow start and trailed 2-5 in the opening game. But she soon got her act together and pocketed 11 points on the trot to go into the break leading 11-7.
The Chinese Taipei shuttler tried to make comeback into the contest by playing long rallies but Sindhu was up to the task to pocket the opening game.
Tai Tzu continued in the same vein after the change of ends and extended her lead to 14-3 before Sindhu relied on her powerful smashes to reduce the deficit to 17-15.
Tai Tzu, however, regrouped quickly and pocketed the next four points to draw level in the contest.
It was a close contest in the decider as both the shuttlers fought tooth and nail till 12 points before Tai Tzu put Sindhu under pressure with a mix of drop shots and smashes to clinch the third game and keep her title defense hopes alive.
Earlier, Sindhu made a winning start and advanced while Saina Nehwal suffered a first-round exit. B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, who will be leading India's charge at the Commonwealth Games, also couldn't show their great performances during the initial stages of the tournament.
(Inputs from PTI)
