Indonesia Open: Sindhu beats Yujin, sets up semifinal clash against Intanon

Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu defeated South Korea's Sim Yujin 14-21, 21-19, 21-14 in a one-hour-and-six-minute match to enter the semifinals at the Indonesia Open in Bali on Friday. Sindhu will go up against Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon, the world No. 8, in the last-four clash.
Intanon eased past Japan's Asuka Takahashi 21-17, 21-12 in the quarterfinal. This will be Sindhu's third successive semifinal appearance after the French Open and Indonesia Masters.

Yujin was quick off the blocks as she won the first game 21-14 in 17 minutes. Sindhu recovered in the second game and raced to a 14-7 lead but a resilient Yujin almost clawed back and ensured a tight finish. Sindhu eventually took it 21-19 to level the scores.

The decider saw the two shuttlers go neck-and-neck in the opening exchanges and the score was tied at 11 apiece just after the midway break. Sindhu, however, managed to find extra gear from there on and dominated the rest of the game, and settled the match.

After a tough opening encounter against Japanese shuttler Aya Ohori in her opening clash, Sindhu had dispatched Germany's Yvonne Li in her second-round match to make it to the quarters. - IANS