PV Sindhu in Malaysia Open semis after Yamaguchi injury retirement; Japanese had lost the first set before conceding

PV Sindhu in action. (Photo: Badminton Photo)

Continuing from her blistering run against Tomoka Miyazaki, PV Sindhu was in a similar mode facing world champion Akane Yamaguchi at the Super 1000 Malaysia Open. But the struggling Japanese weathered a first set hail-storm of biting winners from the Indian, and told the chair umpire she couldn’t continue as her injury was clearly hampering her movement. Yamaguchi conceded after losing the opening set 21-11.

Arriving at the court with a knee brace, Yamaguchi didn’t look too comfortable from the outset as Sindhu struck with short-back swinging, snappy down shots and built up a 10-2 lead. Yamaguchi, a defensive juggernaut, was barely moving on the day, and showed her frustration when she couldn’t nail the lines. The plan – which did fetch her 11 points – was to pin Sindhu to the back court and deny her elevation. But she remained far too error prone for the winners to matter.

On the high shots, the stick smashes and the crisp drops, Sindhu, jaunty on the court and striking shuttle high, was unstoppable. She took a little over 10 minutes to wrap up the first set, after which Yamaguchi, 28, conceded to give Sindhu her first Super 1000 semis in three years.

Things get trickier in the Last 4 with either Wang Zhiyi or Putri Kusuma Wardani to get past. The Indonesian has got the better of Sindhu twice in the last two meetings including at the Paris World Championships, but is clearly not unbeatable, given Sindhu’s much-improved speed. The Chinese World No 2 remains Sindhu”s highest ranked scalp in recent times, after she beat her at the World’s.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty take on Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri later in the day in the men’s doubles quarters at the Axiata arena.