Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu overcame a spirited challenge from Korea's Sim Yu Jin to advance to the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament on Thursday. The former world champion, seeded fifth, prevailed in a hard-fought three-game battle, 21-13, 12-21, 21-14, in a match that lasted 59 minutes.
Sindhu, who has been struggling to regain her top form since returning from a knee injury last year, faced an early deficit in the opening game. However, she rallied back to take a narrow 11-10 lead at the break. The Indian shuttler then dominated the latter half of the game, winning seven consecutive points to secure the first game.
The second game was a more closely contested affair, with both players trading blows. Han managed to take a one-point advantage at the interval and maintained her momentum after the resumption. The Korean surged ahead 14-10 and went on to win seven of the next nine points to level the match.
In the decider, Sim once again started strongly, moving to a 5-1 lead. But Sindhu refused to give up and clawed back to level the score at 6-6. The Korean regained a slight advantage at 9-8, but Sindhu seized control and surged ahead 13-9. A five-point burst from 16-14 sealed the victory for the Indian.
Sindhu will now face top seed Han Yue in the quarterfinals, a rematch of their encounter at the Asia Badminton Championships last month, which Han won. Sindhu holds a 5-1 head-to-head record against Han, who is now ranked world number 6.
In other results from the tournament, the mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy lost 9-21, 15-21 to top-seeded Malaysian pair of Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei. In women's doubles, Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker went down 17-21, 11-21 to second-seeded Malaysians Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.
Tags: #PV, Sindhu, #Malaysia, Masters, #Badminton
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