Malaysia Masters: Sindhu battles past top seed Han Yue to move into semis; Ashmita falters at QF stage

The Indian shuttler beat the WR 6 shuttler 21-13, 14-21, 21-12 in 55 minutes to seal progress to the semifinal.

Published : May 24, 2024 08:30 IST , Kuala Lumpur - 2 MINS READ

FILE PHOTO: Pusarla V. Sindhu of India plays against Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia during their women’s singles round of 32 match at Indonesia Open badminton tournament.
FILE PHOTO: Pusarla V. Sindhu of India plays against Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia during their women’s singles round of 32 match at Indonesia Open badminton tournament. | Photo Credit: TATAN SYUFLANA/ AP
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FILE PHOTO: Pusarla V. Sindhu of India plays against Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia during their women’s singles round of 32 match at Indonesia Open badminton tournament. | Photo Credit: TATAN SYUFLANA/ AP

Double Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu took a giant stride towards securing a title at the Malaysia Masters after progressing to the semifinal with a hard-fought win over top seed Han Yue of China here on Friday.

World No. 15 Sindhu recovered from a mid-game slump to outwit Han, ranked sixth, 21-13 14-21 21-12 in a 55-minute quarterfinal battle to avenge her loss to the Chinese in their last meeting at the Asia badminton Championships in Ningbo last month.

Sindhu, a former world champion, will now square off against either Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani or Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the last four stage.

In other results, Ashmita Chaliha’s fine run ended in the quarterfinals with a 10-21 15-21 loss to sixth seed Zhang Yi Man of China.

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Sindhu, who last won the Singapore Open in 2022, gave a good account of herself during the 55-minute match as she broke off from 3-3 in the opening game to take a 11-5 cushion at the break.

The Chinese slowly made her way to 13-16 but Sindhu reeled off the remaining five straight points to take the opening game.

Stung by the reversal, Han zoomed to a 5-0 lead after the change of sides. She continued to dominate the proceedings as Sindhu struggled. The result was she jumped to a massive 15-2 advantage and despite some fightback from the Indian, Han comfortably took the match to the decider.

Sindhu gathered her wits in the third game to open up a massive 11-3 lead at the break, which proved decisive as Han just couldn’t bridge the gap.

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