BWF French Open | PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal bow out, doubles duo enters semis
Ace Indian women shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal bowed out of the ongoing French Open badminton tournament after losing their respective quarter-final matches on Friday. Meanwhile, India’s top-ranked doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty entered the semi-finals.
In an intense battle that lasted 75 minutes, the newly crowned World Champion Sindhu lost out to World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying 21-16, 24-26, 21-17 in the last-eight encounter on Friday night. The fierce contest at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin was filled with long rallies, jaw-dropping drops and the never-say-die attitude of the two ace shuttlers.
Earlier, South Korean teenager An Se Young ended Nehwal’s campaign in the Super 750 tournament at the quarter-final as well. The 17-year-old defeated Nehwal 22-20, 23-21 in a contest that lasted for almost 50 minutes en route to booking her place in the semi-final of the competition.
In the only good news of the day for India, the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj and Chirag maintained their imperious form, handing a shock-defeat to Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. The duo, which had claimed its maiden Super 500 title at the Thailand Open earlier this year, defeated the World No.8 Danish pair 21-13, 22-20 in 39 minutes to make their second successive last-four appearance at the Super 750 tournament. The Indians will now take on the Japanese fifth-seeded pair of Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe for a berth in the finals.
