Sindhu sails into last four

Jakarta: PV Sindhu stormed into the semi-finals of Indonesia Masters 2021 on Friday with a comprehensive victory over Hong Kong's Neslihan Yigit. Sindhu trounced her opponent 21-13, 21-10 in just 35 minutes to reach the final four. Sindhu was never in trouble or pressure in her quarter-final match as she got an easy match-up in world No.30 Yigit. Sindhu remained in control of the proceedings through the match and had no trouble in giving it a clean finish.

In the semi-final, Sindhu awaits a tough match-up as she will face the winner of the quarter-final between first seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and fifth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand.

Against Yamaguchi, Sindhu has won her last two matches but lost three straight prior to that. Overall, Sindhu leads their head-to-head record 12-7. Sindhu leads Chochuwong 4-2 in their overall head-to-head record but the Thai won their last exchange at the All England Championships earlier this year. Sindhu has beaten Chochuwong once in their last three matches.

Sindhu played Yigit a bit at the start of the match but as the game kept going on, Sindhu kept her hold on the rallies and never let Yigit get an advantage over her. At the break in the first game, Sindhu led 11-6.

Post the break, Sindhu kept hold of the advantage and in fact only bettered it as she took the first game 21-13. Yigit tried to push Sindhu in the second game as she won the first three points but the Indian was unfazed, won the next three points to equalise and thereafter, assumed control again.

Even though Yigit managed to stay close to Sindhu early on in the second game, the Indian never looked like losing control. She kept her calm, went for her shots and stuck to the strategy she had come to the court with.

Just before the break, Sindhu won four straight points to take an 11-8 lead. After the break, Sindhu completely dominated Yigit and the Hong Kong player could win only two points before the Indian closed it out. Later in the day, Indonesia Masters will see an all-Indian quarter-final when Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy will go against each other.

Both Srikanth and Prannoy have had an excellent tournament so far with the former beating Indonesian Jonatan Christie to make the quarters. Prannoy, on the other hand, has had an even better campaign beating the likes of Malaysian Daren Liew and second seed and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen.