Odense (Denmark), October 20 (Press Ki Taquat)
Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu showed glimpses of her old self, dishing out a compact game to storm into the semifinals of Denmark Open Super 750 tournament with a comfortable win over world No. 19 Supanida Katethong here on Friday.
The two-time Olympic medallist, who has endured a winless phase this season, displayed her immaculate retrieving skills and exemplary net play to outshine Katethong 21-19, 21-12 in 47 minutes and make it to a second semifinal in two weeks.
It hasn’t been exactly smooth sailing for Sindhu in this tournament as she took three games to get rid of her opponents—world No. 28 Kristy Gilmour and world No. 7 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the first two rounds.
Coming into this match, the Indian enjoyed a 3-2 record against the Thai but the twin losses at the India Open 2022 and 2023 editions would still hurt Sindhu, as it came in front of her home crowd.
But on Friday, the 28-year-old somewhat erased those memories as she matched her technically sound opponent in every department and managed to limit her errors to come up trumps.
Sindhu, however, managed to eke out a 9-6 lead. The Thai seemed to step up the pace and made it 8-9 after unleashing a straight smash. Katethong set up the points well but failed in execution as Sindhu again led 11-9.
The Hyderabadi looked more aggressive as she had all the answers to the questions her opponent threw at her. She mixed her half smashes, drives and drops to keep gathering points as Katethong fell into a pool of errors, especially in her pursuit to go for the lines.
The result was that the Indian was up 16-10. With the Thai going long again, Sindhu moved to 18-11. She produced a cross-court forehand to gather another point and soon grabbed eight match points.
