PV Sindhu crashes out of All England Championships after semi-final loss in straight games

PV Sindhu suffered yet another semi-final defeat at the iconic All England Championships as she lost in straight games to Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong on Saturday.

World No. 7 Sindhu lost 21-17, 21-9 to a lower-ranked Pornpawee, who took only 45 minutes to get past the ace Indian with her pace, power, and accuracy on the court.

This was Sindhu's second semi-final loss at All England Championships after her loss in the last-four at the 2018 edition.

The Olympic silver medallist, Sindhu, came into the semi-final on Saturday with a formidable lead of 4-1 over the 23-year-old Thai shuttler, the player Sindhu had defeated at the BWF World Tour Finals in January. However, those numbers did not matter eventually as Pornpawee outclassed Sindhu with pristine defense and speed.

Earlier on Friday, fifth-seeded Sindhu had beaten Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in three games. It was Sindhu's first win over World No. 5 in their last four meetings. Sindhu took an hour and 16 minutes to go past the fifth-seeded Akane 16-21, 21-16, 21-19 and make it to the semi-final.

"I am playing against her after quite a long time. I'm sure she would have trained very hard. The match was a good, tough long match I would say," the Indian star had said in an interview.

In the opening game, Sindhu tried to match Yamaguchi's speed but a few unforced errors handed the Japan national a lead of 11-6. Sindhu never managed to cut the deficit as World No. 5 sealed the first game 21-17. In the second game, Sindhu produced some excellent shots as she went 6-2 up. The Japanese missed the lines twice, letting Sindhu go 8-4 up. The Indian ace player earned five game points as she claimed the second game with ease.

Carrying the momentum into the decider game, Sindhu held her nerves. However, Yamaguchi made a quick comeback to make it 15-15 and then took the lead at 18-17. Sindhu won a couple of points to make it 19-18 before bagging the match points with Akane going wide.

Before crashing out of the All England Championships on Saturday, Sindhu had lost the Swiss Open final to Carolina Marin at the beginning of the month.