All England Open | Sindhu and Saina one win away from an all-Indian semi-final

03/10/2017

Both PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal won their respective second-round matches of the All-England Open Championships to book a place in the quarter-finals, keeping the hopes of an all-Indian semi-final duel alive. HS Prannoy's challenge was, however, ended by Tian Houwei in the second round match.

Rio silver-medallist Sindhu made short work of World No.39 Dinar Dyah Ayustine beating the Indonesian 21-12, 21-4, in just 30 minutes. The Indian star raced to a 12-5 lead in the first game before the Indonesian tried to script a comeback bringing the score to within 4 points. But it was not going to be hunky-dory for Ayustine as Sindhu clinched the first set 21-12.

In the second set, the Hyderabad-lass showed her intent early as she won the first 9 points in a row to take a commanding lead in the game. Ayustine tried to fight back with three points of her own but it wasn't meant to be for the Indonesian as Sindhu took the game and the match 21-4.

Similarly, eighth-seed Saina, too, needed just 35 minutes to to beat German qualifier Fabienne Deprez in straight sets of 21-18, 21-10. She had to battle hard in the first set as the German came from 11-6 down to tie the game at 12 points apiece. The lead kept changing every two points but at 17-17, Nehwal raised the standard of play to take the first game by a score of 21-18. The second game was straight forward affair as Nehwal took a lead at 2-1 and never gave the German a sniff after that. The London Olympic medalist closed out the second game 21-10 to book a berth in the quarter-finals of the tournament.

The only Indian men's singles player left in the competition, HS Prannoy , was ousted by the Chinese seventh-seed Tian Houwei. Houwei won the game 21-13, 21-5 in just 33 minutes to end Prannoy's brave challenge in Birmingham.

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