PV Sindhu defeated Korea’s Sim Yujin in straight games to reach the Thailand Open Super 500 quarterfinals on Thursday as all other Indian shuttlers exited the tournament in Bangkok.
The sixth-seeded Indian won 21-16, 21-13 in 37 minutes to reach the last eight where she will face Japanese second seed Akane Yamaguchi for the 23rd time in her career.
It wasn’t quite smooth sailing in the opening game for Sindhu as Korea’s Uber Cup hero produced some flashes of brilliance that the world saw in her incredible deciding game win against China last Saturday at this venue.
But Sindhu never really lost control of the proceedings, except at game points in the opener, producing some brilliant straight smashes and crosscourt winners to never let Sim get into any rhythm,
However, there wasn’t much else to cheer for Indian fans on Thursday as no other player from the country managed to qualify for the quarters.
Srikanth Kidambi handed a walkover to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen. The reason for the withdrawal is not yet known. He was the last remaining member in action from the Thomas Cup winning squad with either others losing or withdrawing from the tournament.
Later, Malvika Bansod started well but lost 16-21, 21-14, 21-14 against Denmark’s world No 22 Line Christophersen.
In mixed doubles, India’s Tanisha Crasto and Ishaan Bhatnagar went down 19-21, 20-22 against Malaysian sixth seeds Soon Huat Goh and Shevon Jemie Lai.
Japanese fifth seeds Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara, former world champions, then defeated India’s Ashwinin Bhat and Shikha Gautam 21-19, 21-6 in their women’s doubles round of 16 match.
