China Masters: Sindhu bows out after loss to An Se Young; Satwik-Chirag duo reaches semis

For the eighth time in her career, star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu failed to go past Korean World No. 1 An Se Young as she crashed out of the women's singles quarterfinals of the China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament here on Friday. However, there was some hope for India as men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated the Chinese duo of Ren Xiang Yu and Xie Haonan in straight games to enter the semifinals.

Sindhu, the two-time Olympic medallist, went down 14-21, 13-21 in 38 minutes against the 23-year-old Korean. She is yet to record a single win against the Paris Olympics gold medallist An.

Sindhu started poorly and trailed 1-6 before narrowing it to 5-9. However, An used her trademark smashes to open up an 11-5 lead at the interval. Sindhu managed to close in at 11-14, but the Korean maintained her grip and sealed the opener.

In the second game, Sindhu briefly led 3-2 but An soon regained control. The Indian tried to push with attacking play and trailed 7-8, but the An's superior deception and variety helped her go into the break 11-7 ahead.

An pulled away to 14-7 after resumption and never looked back.

Sindhu played some fine front-court drops and round-the-head smashes to gather a few points but the Korean was always a step ahead.

The Korean grabbed eight match points with a cross-court smash and sealed it when Sindhu erred again.

The Satiwk-Chirag duo beat their opponents 21-14, 21-14 in a quarterfinal clash that lasted 37 minutes. This is the duo’s seventh semifinal appearance this year.
(With PTI inputs)