Indian badminton star PV Sindhu made it through to the semi-final of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 after beating top seed Han Yue of China 21-13, 14-21, 21-12 on Friday.
She is the only Indian left active in the event after compatriot Ashmita Chaliha bowed out in the quarter-final stage after losing 10-21, 15-21 to Zhang Yi Man of China.
Sindhu and Han shared the first six points of the match between them, after which the Indian started to assert herself by taking a lead, and she would not give up on the lead to clinch the opening game 21-13.
It was the other way around in the second game, as Han raced to a 5-0 lead and continued to build on it to take the game into the decider.
The topsy-turvy trend continued in the third game as well Sindhu raced to a 3-0 lead, and then extended it to 9-1 to set the tone for the game. Sindhu would eventually win the 55-minute match by sealing the third game 21-13, extending her head-to-head tally against Han to 6-1.
This is the first time this season that Sindhu has made it to this far in a BWF competition.
Chaliha bows out
Chaliha however, could not keep up the momentum from Thursday as she bowed out with a straight-games loss to world No 16 Zhang.
A day earlier, Chaliha had upset world No 10 Beiwen Zhang of the United States.
On Friday however, she lost six points on the trot to trail 3-8 in the first game. Zhang, the sixth seed, built on that momentum to win the opening game 21-10.
Zhang continued in that same vein by storming to an 8-0 lead in the second game to set up a comfortable win.