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BWF World Championships: PV Sindhu stuns Tai Tzu Ying to enter semi-finals
The ace Indian shuttler overcame a stiff challenge from World No 2 to beat her 12-21, 23-21, 21-19
After Saina Nehwal's exit from the tournament, all eyes were on PV Sindhu to deliver against her nemesis Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei and the Indian did not disappoint her fans as she stunned the World No. 2 12-21, 23-21, 21-19 to storm into the semi-finals of the BWF World Championships on Friday. The victory also ensured that Sindhu keeps her bid for a third straight final.
This was Sindhu's second consecutive win over Tai Tzu Ying. The ace Indian shuttler came back from losing the first game in 15 minutes to clinch the second one 23-21 in a thrilling fashion and then wrest the advantage from her old nemesis to win 21-19 and make it two wins in a row against the same opponent.
Tai Tzu, who last year claimed the nation's first-ever badminton gold at the Asian Games, opened up a 7-point lead and from then on peppered the Olympic silver medallist with back-to-back smashes.
A brilliant rally saw the Taiwanese maintain her dominance and win the first game 21-12 as Sindhu had no answer to her returns. The Indian started strongly in the second game, winning her first point with a strong smash. Tai Tzu fought back to take a 5-3 lead before Sindhu leveled the score at 8-8 and took an 11-9 advantage at the break. The rallies were long and Sindhu even fell to the floor while attempting to return a sharp Tai Tzu shot.
It was a see-saw battle after the breather as both Sindhu and Tai Tzu refused to budge. It was even at 21-21 before Sindhu showed composure and skill to win it 23-21 and stay afloat. In the decider, Tai Tzu opened up a 5-2 lead before Sindhu fought back to go into the break trailing 9-11. It was exhilarating badminton from there on as Sindhu, in typical fashion, took the lead from 15-15 to win 21-19.
