PV Sindhu overcomes Akane Yamaguchi to clinch semifinal berth at Thailand Open

PV Sindhu won a closely fought contest against second seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan to prevail in the quarterfinal of the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament on Friday.

The two-time Olympic medallist from India defeated Yamaguchi 21-15, 20-22, 21-13 in a battle that lasted for 51 minutes, to set up a semifinal clash with Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei of China. 

Sixth seed Sindhu defeated the world number 1 Yamaguchi to claim her 14th win over the reigning World Champion. Their head-to-head battle now stands at 14-9.

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The last time Sindhu faced off against Yamaguchi it was at the Badminton Asia Championships semifinals where the Indian shuttler was penalised one point by the umpire for delaying tactics which led to a huge controversy. 

SUPER SINDHU@Pvsindhu1 enters semifinals of #ThailandOpen2022 in style after defeating reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi 21-15, 20-22, 21-13 in the quarter finals 

Well done champ! #BWFWorldTour#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/084Y0lp9NU

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) May 20, 2022

Nonetheless, Sindhu banished her blues to get one over her opponent and continue her impressive run at the Thailand Open. 

There was no separating the two shuttlers in the opening phase of the game, but it was the Japanese ace who led 11-9 at the break, however, Sindhu's cross-court drops continued to trouble Yamaguchi who lost the first game 21-15. 

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She made a valiant comeback in the next game and won an evenly fought battle 20-22, but in the third game, Sindhu proved to be too good for her opponent and sealed the win with a 21-13 third set victory.