Australian Open 2017 | Saina and Sindhu crash out in the quarterfinals

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Saina Nehwal bowed out of the Australian Super Series tournament today after losing her quarterfinal match to China's Sun Yu by 21-17, 10-21, 21-17. PV Sindhu, too, like her compatriot crashed out of the tournament after facing a 21-10, 20-22, 16-21 defeat at the hands of World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying.

Sixth seed Sun Yu started her quarterfinal against Saina Nehwal on the offensive as the Chinese scored four consecutive points to take an early lead of 4-0 in the opening game. However, Saina reduced the deficit to 11-9 before the break and tied the game at 11-11 after resumption. Saina then took the game to Yu and led the game for the first time with 14-12 to extend it to 16-13. However, the Chinese clawed her way back into the game winning five straight points to take the score to 18-17 and then eventually won the game 21-17 to lead the match.

The second game started on even terms with the game tied at 3-3 in the early stages. However, Saina imposed her domination over the game and won seven straight points to make the score 9-3. The Indian shuttler then maintained the lead to win the game 21-10.

The deciding game started with a 35-shot rally which was won by Saina who then extended her lead to 6-4. However, Yu once again won five straight points and forced Saina to trail 9-6. The Indian shuttler staged a comeback to make it 11-9 at the break. Saina maintained the two-point cushion until the 15th point when Yu overtook her to make it 18-15 and then eventually won the nail-biting decider 21-17 to enter the semi-finals.

Sindhu, unlike Saina, started the first game on a good note and troubled China's Tai Tzu Ying with her baseline smashes to win the game 21-10.

However, the Chinese World No. 1 dominated the early stages of the second game leading 4-1 until Sindhu's resurgent play levelled the game on 8-8 and 9-9. The Indian shuttler then extended her lead to 13-10 before trailing behind 14-18 after the Chinese won eight straight points. However, Sindhu was on the brink of winning the game and the match when a net error from the Hyderabad shuttler resulted in the game going Ying's way who won it 22-20 to force a deciding third in the match.

Sindhu continued attacking in the third game to take a 14-10 lead. However, a lapse in concentration saw the Chinese winning 10 consecutive points to seal a semi-final berth in the women's singles category of the tournament.

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