Reigning world champion PV Sindhu bowed out at the semi-final stage of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 event on Saturday as Ratchanok Intanon staged an impressive fightback in Bali.

Later in the day, world No 11 men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, seeded sixth, also bowed out after a 16-21 18-21 defeat to top seeded Indonesian combination of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the semifinals.

Indonesia Open, semi-final as it happened: Sindhu loses in three games against Intanon

Indonesia Open, semi-final as it happened: Satwik-Chirag lose in straight games

Sindhu started strongly to take the first game in 17 minutes but second seed Intanon was in control from the second game onwards, taking the match 15-21, 21-19, 21-14 in 54 minutes.

It was Sindhu’s fifth straight semifinal defeat of the year, starting from the All England Open. She last reached the finals at the Swiss Open in March 2021. For Intanon it will be her first final appearance of the year.

The 26-year-old Sindhu had made it to the last four in Indonesia Masters last week and also at the French Open in October.

Here are how the three games panned out in the women’s singles match:

Sindhu, the world no 7, came into the match with a 4-6 head-to-head count, having lost to the Thai player twice in the last two meetings. The Indian made a good start, slowly moving to a 8-3 lead early on. Ratchanok narrowed it down to 9-10 before Sindhu entered the break with a slender one-point advantage.

Sindhu grabbed three straight points to march ahead and didn’t look back as she pocketed the opening game.

Ratchanok got her bearings back and came back roaring into the match as she build up a lead of 11-7 at the interval in the second game. The Thai shuttler grabbed nine of the next 10 points from 12-8 to leave Sindhu stranded at the other side.

It was Sindhu who handed 11 game points to Ratchanok after going to the net and the Thailand shuttler sealed it with a smash on her opponent’s forehand.

The world no 8 Thai continued her impressive run in the decider as she ran to a healthy 11-6 lead with Sindhu committing too many errors.

Sindhu resumed with a cross court drop but a misjudgment at the backline and then an error at the net meant Ratchanok continued to move ahead.

The Indian had a good run of four points as she reached 13-16 but Ratchanok once again snapped the run of points and moved to seven match points.

A net error delayed the inevitable as Ratchanok sealed the contest with a precise return at the forecourt.

For Satwik and Chirag, it was a 10th straight defeat in 10 matches against the world number one pair, a two-time former All England Open champions and reigning Asian Games gold medallist. The Indonesians are also two-time defending champions of this event.

The first game was a comfortable affair for the Indonesian pair, known as Minions on the tour, but the second game was superbly contested. The Indian youngsters had leads at various points but a strong second half from the top seeds took them past the finish line. Satwik and Chirag have now only won one game in 10 matches against their nemesis.

Despite their defeat, the Tokyo 2020 Olympians have qualified for next week’s World Tour Finals. Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy have so far made the cut.

It was thus curtains for India at the $850,000 tournament.

Here are how the two games panned out in the men’s doubles match:

With PTI Inputs