Sindhu enters French Open semifinal, Lakshya ousted
P. V. Sindhu sailed into the semifinal of the French Open with a straight-game win over Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan, while Lakshya Sen lost to Korea's Heo Kwanghee.
Published : Oct 29, 2021 23:20 IST
India's double Olympic medallist P. V. Sindhu continued her impressive run at the French Open badminton tournament by sailing into the women's singles semifinals with a straight-game win over Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan here on Friday.
Sindhu, seeded third, scripted a convincing 21-14, 21-14 win over eighth seeded in 38 minutes to extend her dominating head-to-head record against the Thai to 14-1.
It was a clinical display from Sindhu as she zoomed to a 5-1 lead initially before moving to 11-6 at the break. She continued in the same vein after the interval, jumping to 18-7 to eventually pocket the opening game comfortably.
RELATED|
The second game turned out to be a close battle with Sindhu and Busanan engaging in a fierce battle. However, Sindhu broke off at 8-8 to grab a two-point advantage at the interval. The Indian once again stepped up after the break to climb to 16-10 and 20-12. Busanan saved two match points before Sindhu sealed the contest.
The 26-year-old from Hyderabad had beaten Busanan at Denmark Open also, last week. Sindhu, the reigning world champion, defeated Denmark's Line Christophersen, ranked 24th in the world 21-19, 21-9 on late Thursday night to enter the quarters.
The world number seven Indian will next take on Japan's world number 15 Sayaka Takahashi in the last four on Saturday.
- Lakshya exits -
Lakshya Sen's fine run ended in the men's singles quarterfinal as he lost 17-21, 15-21 to Korea's Heo Kwanghee in 43 minutes. The 20-year-old from Almora had notched up a comfortable straight game win over Singapore's Loh Kean Yew to grab a place in the last eight.
RELATED|
ALSO READ | BWF adds Odisha Open to 2022 calendar
Men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also couldn't cross the quarterfinal hurdle, losing 21-18, 18-21, 17-21 to fourth seeded Malaysian combine of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. On Thursday, Satwik and Chirag beat MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila 15-21, 21-10, 21-19 in an all-Indian clash to reach the quarterfinal.
Men's singles player Sourabh Verma bowed out of the competition after losing 12-21, 9-21 to Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in the second round.