World No 3 PV Sindhu overcame a loss in concentration to beat Spain’s Beatriz Corrales 21-12, 19-21, 21-11 and reach the semi-finals of the India Open Super500 badminton tournament at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi on Friday.
The defending champion looked set to cruise to the last-four stage when she clinched the opening game easily but made a flurry of errors in the second to allow the Spaniard to open up a sizeable lead. The top seed did manage to save six game points but a lucky net chord for Corrales forced the match into the decider, which Sindhu easily managed to win.
“I gave her the lead in the second game as I didn’t start well and made a few errors. But I was always confident after saving six game points that I can win the third game,” Sindhu said after the match.
The 22-year-old will now take on former world champion Ratchanok Intanon, who hammered Hong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin 21-11, 21-11 in the other quarter-finals.
Chopra-Sikki in semis
Sindhu’s victory was also the first for the Indian contingent on Friday after doubles combinations of Ashwini Ponnappa-Sikki Reddy, B Sumeeth Reddy-Manu Atri and singles stars B Sai Praneeth and P Kashyap were knocked out in straight games.
On the adjoining court, mixed doubles combination of Sikki and Pranaav Chopra made it to their second major semi-final after they defeated China’s Han Chengkai and Cao Tong Wei 21-8, 21-13.