French Open 2021 | PV Sindhu loses to Japan's Sayaka Takahashi in semis

India's campaign at the French Open ended as ace shuttler PV Sindhu was ousted in the semi-finals of the tournament, on Saturday. The Indian lost to Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi 21-18, 16-21, 12-21 in an encounter, that lasted over an hour. Sindhu was the lone-standing Indian in the last-four stages of the tournament.

In the first game, Sidhu struggled with her returns on the faster side of the court, and trailed at the mid-game interval 10-11. But soon after that, Sindhu pocketed three consecutive points to take the first game. In the second game too, Sindhu managed to take the lead at 11-9. But then the Japanese player made a comeback in the match and extended her lead of 14-18 over Sindhu. Eventually, she took the second game.

Come the third and final game, Sindhu had run out of steam, and Takahashi hardly made any errors in the game. At one point, she led 14-9. From that point onwards there was no looking back, and Takahashi cemented her place in the final.