PV Sindhu goes down against Carolina Marin in heated semi-final clash at Denmark Open 2023

Both shuttlers were shown yellow cards for verbal exchange.

India's star shuttler PV Sindhu exited the Denmark Open 2023 after defeat against familiar rival Carolina Marin. Sindhu came back from a game down but lost in three games (18-21, 21-19, 7-21] in a match that spanned longer than an hour. However, the defeat aside, Sindhu has now reached back-to-back semifinals in the BWF World Tour — Arctic Open and Denmark Open — which suggest a return to her best form following a struggling run since last year's Commonwealth Games 2022.

In the first game, Sindhu took control early but faced a strong comeback from the Spaniard opponent, who narrowed the gap before eventually levelling at 16-16 and then ran away with the opening game by 21-18.

In the mid-game interval in the second game, PV Sindhu had a whopping lead of 11-3 as Marin kept making unforced errors by going wide and hitting the net. The game turned post the break as Sindhu blew away seven out of the eight-point lead with Marin taking seven consecutive points to make it 10-11.

Sindhu found her composure yet again to build on the one-point lead and increased it to five points only for the three-time World Champion Spaniard to level up at 16-16.

The Indian had four game points to close the second game, but she blew away three of them before finally securing it in the last point. The match by then had crossed 50 minutes already.

As Sindhu chose the better side of the court in the first game, she had to play the first half of the decider from the better side where she was expected to get a good lead, but Sindhu faltered massively as nothing worked for her.

It was Carolina Marin who raced to a 3-0 lead and then extended it to 8-2. Sindhu was behind by nine points heading into the mid-game interval in the decider. Both shuttlers were then shown yellow cards for a verbal spat at 14-3. While both players upped their aggression, Marin also had her racquet do the talking with dominating play in the deciding game which she won by 21-7.

While Marin will now face Chen Yu Fei in the women's singles final for the Denmark Open 2023 title, Sindhu — although she leaves Odense empty hand — will be back inside the top 10 in women's singles rankings next week after a game of six months.