Sindhu battles past Blichfeldt to enter Indonesia Open quarters

Jakarta: Top Indian shuttler P V Sindhu had to dig deep into her reservoir of experience to beat unseeded Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark and claim a quarterfinal berth in the women's singles event of the Indonesia Open here Thursday.

Sindhu, seeded fifth, slugged it out for one hour and two minutes to get the better of Blichfeldt 21-14 17-21 21-11 in a second-round encounter. It was Sindhu's third win over the world no. 13 Dane this year. The Indian had earlier defeated Blichfeldt in straight games in the Indian Open and the Singapore Open. Sindhu will next face the winner of the match between Malaysia's Soniia Cheh and third seeded Japanese Nozomi Okuhara in the last-eight round of the BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament.

The start was far from impressive for Sindhu as Blichfeldt took a 6-3 lead before the Indian got her act together to draw level. From that point, Sindhu raised her game gradually and relied on her long reach and smashes to pocket the first game 21-14. The second game witnessed a tough fight between the two shuttlers but Blichfeldt made a strong comeback to take a 9-5 and then a 10-7 lead. Sindhu then pocketed three straight points to level the scores at 10-10. But the Dane meant business as she took full advantage of the Indian's unforced errors to clinch the second game and draw parity in the match.

The decider, however, turned out to be a one-sided affair as Sindhu got her composure back and ran away with the game after some initial resistance from Blichfeldt. However, it was curtains for India in the men's doubles event after the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 15-21 14-21 to top-seeded local hopes Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the second round.