PV Sindhu, Shetty & Rankireddy advance to Indonesia Open semi-finals

B Sai Praneeth was unfortunately knocked out of the tournament.

PV Sindhu continued her form as she qualified for the semi-finals of Indonesia Open 2021 with a hard-fought win over South Korean shuttler Sin Yu-jin on Friday. The No. 3 seed had to graft hard to pick up a 14-21, 21-19, 21-14 win over the talented South Korean star.

The game began in a difficult fashion for the Indian shuttler. Yu-jin started the contest in an emphatic fashion and caught Sindhu off her guard on multiple occasions. The South Korean shuttler kept rallying to win the first game, putting her Indian counterpart under pressure.

However, Sindhu proved her class by mounting an admirable comeback. She went toe-to-toe with Yu-jin in the second game, which went right down to the wire. Sindhu held her nerve to get a narrow win, forcing it to the decisive final game.

By this time, Yu-jin’s power had faded. Sindhu took full advantage of this, rallying her to make errors and winning decisive points. She ended up picking up a comfortable win in the end and has kept her dreams of winning the Indonesia Open alive.

Shetty & Rankireddy shine in quarter-finals clash

The No. 12 seeds of the tournament, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy dominated their way into the Indonesia Open men’s doubles semi-final. They faced Malaysian duo Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin in a challenging game, but showcased impressive character to register a compelling win.

Shetty and Rankireddy were put to task from the get-go by the hard-working Malaysian pair. The first game went right down to the wire, but a crucial break helped the Indian duo pick up a 21-19 win to get the upper hand in the game.

Fei and Izzuddin tried their hardest to come back into the game, but couldn’t get the decisive break. Shetty & Rankireddy shined in this aspect, repeating their heroics from the first game and picking up a 21-19, 21-19 win at the end.

The Indian duo has a daunting prospect ahead in the Indonesia Open semi-finals. They will face the No.1 seeds, Indonesian duo Marcus Gideon and Kevin Sukamuljo, but defeating them can significantly improve their prospects of winning the title.

Sai Praneeth knocked out

Friday was not a perfect day for Indian shuttlers in the Indonesia Open. B Sai Praneeth fell to a crushing defeat to the No. 2 seed – Denmark’s Victor Axelsen in the quarter-finals of the men’s singles bracket.

Praneeth looked overwhelmed against the dominant Danish shuttler, who took control from the get-go. Axelsen used his impressive stroke play to force errors out of the Indian shuttler and continued to get crucial breakpoints.

He won the first set 21-12, giving a huge mental setback for Praneeth. The Indian shuttler could not recover from that, and ended his Indonesia Open campaign by losing the second game 21-8.

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