BWF World Superseries | PV Sindhu books semis berth; Srikanth bows out

The second game was much the same as after an edgy start, Sindhu started taking control of the game and raced to a 9-5 lead as chants of, “Let’s go Sindhu” echoed in Dubai. By the mid-game break, Sindhu had already accumulated a five-point lead. Following the break, it was sheer carnage. An unstoppable Sindhu just piled on the pressure as she took a 12 point lead to bring up match point. Even though Sato saved four match points, she couldn’t do much to salvage the match. Sindhu will now face Akane Yamaguchi in the last group game to decide who would go into the semis as the top seed.

As the match began, things didn’t look great for Srikanth as Chou Tien Chen raced to a 5-0 lead. But the four-time Superseries winner knew that a loss would end his chances of making it to the semis, and he fought back with four points of his own. However, the crushing smashes down the line were not yielding points as they were either wide or off the tape which resulted in Chen going into the break with a five-point lead. The lead was soon 10 points as Chen earned himself ten opportunities to close out the first game. However, Srikanth rallied back to cut the deficit to just two with a 33-shot rally earning him the last point. But that was as good as it got for the Indian as yet another unforced error gifted Chen the first game.