PV Sindhu Registers Comeback Win to Advance Into Indonesia Masters Quarterfinals, Lakshya Sen Crashes Out

The 26-year-old World Champion lost the first game but powered back to win the next two to beat Azurmendi 17-21, 21-7, 21-12 in a 47-minute encounter.

Bali: Indian ace shuttler PV Sindhu registered a brilliant come-from-behind victory against Spain’s Clara Azurmendi to advance to the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Masters Super 750 badminton tournament in Bali on Thursday. Playing against the world no 47 Azurmendi for the first time, Sindhu, who is seeded third, took 47 minutes to record a 17-21, 21-7, 21-12 in the women’s singles second-round clash. Sindhu lost the first game but powered back to win the next two to beat Azurmendi in a 47-minute encounter.

The two-time Olympic medallist and a World Champion will now lock horns with world no 30 unseeded shuttler Neslihan Yigit in the quarterfinals. Sindhu has a 3-0 head-to-head record against the Turkish star.

The 23-year-old Clara, a resident of Madrid, and who is currently ranked 56th in the World Rankings, started superbly and caught up with Sindhu at 9-9 after the Indian had taken a slight lead from 2-2. The scores went neck-and-neck till 14-14 before the Spanish player opened up a lead by winning four consecutive points and went on to win the game at 21-17.

Sindhu dominated the next game as she took an early lead and built on it to go 15-4 up, winning 10 consecutive points during the game. The 26-year-old from Hyderabad, who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games in August to add to the silver she bagged in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, won the second game 21-7, capitalising on the first game point.

INTO THE QUARTER FINALS 🔥@Pvsindhu1 enters the last 8 of #IndonesiaMasters2021 after defeating 🇪🇸’s Clara Azurmendi 17-21, 21-7, 21-12 in the pre quarters 👏#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/uNxVN3QjyT

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) November 18, 2021

Sindhu was again on top in the decider and after the initial exchanges, surged ahead to a 14-7 lead at one time as she won five consecutive points. She wrapped up the game and match at 21-12, capitalising on her superior play against her young rival from Spain.

In the men’s singles event, it was curtains for young Lakshya Sen as he went down 13-21, 19-21 to the top seed and two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan in a 46-minute clash. The mixed doubles pairing of Dhruv Kapila and N Sikki Reddy also suffered defeat.

The 20-year-old Lakshya had reached the semi-finals at Hylo Open Super 500 and final of Dutch Open recently,

Kapila and Sikki, on the other hand, lost a hard-fought 15-21 23-21 18-21 battle to Thai duo of Supak Jomkoh and Supissara Paewsampran in the second round mixed doubles match.