Hong Kong Open Superseries: PV Sindhu avenges French Open loss to Akane Yamaguchi; Lee Chong Wei beats Son Wan Ho.

A quack soothsayer would probably have more success foretelling the future than a badminton expert asked to predict the result of Pusarla Venkata Sindhu’s next match on the world circuit.

So comprehensively had the lanky Indian been beaten by Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi at the French Open Superseries in October, with scores of 21-14, 21-9, that it would have taken someone with a large heart and vivid imagination to predict that the Paris result was to be reversed by almost as convincing a margin at the Hong Kong Superseries Championships.

PV Sindhu reversed the French Open loss to Akane Yamaguchi by a similar margin. AP
PV Sindhu reversed the French Open loss to Akane Yamaguchi by a similar margin. AP
Sindhu’s brilliant 36-minute 21-12, 21-19 triumph in Friday’s quarter-finals of the $400,000 event propelled her to a 4-2 career head-to-head lead over the 20-year-old No 5 seed, who had actually leapfrogged the Indian to the World No 2 spot in the new Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings issued on Thursday. The Indian was aided in no small measure by an untidy, error-strewn performance by Yamaguchi, particularly at crucial junctures.

In the unforgiving, dog-eat-dog world of international badminton, where points have to be earned and defended on a year-to-year, Sindhu’s loss at the China Open to 19-year-old qualifier and local shuttler Gao Fangjie had already ensured her relegation to the third spot in the listings. The Hyderabadi’s gritty victory on Friday could be considered her way of cocking a snook at the BWF rankings.

As for the men’s singles, the much-anticipated battle between youth and experience ended with China’s 21-year-old No 6 seed, Shi Yuqi, edging out the legendary Lin Dan, seeded No 3, at 13-21, 21-17, 21-15 in a 62-minute humdinger of a match. Shi will clash in Saturday’s semi-final with Malaysia’s resurgent Lee Chong Wei, who hit peak form after a recent spate of poor results, to bludgeon second-seeded South Korean, Son Wan Ho, into submission by a 21-11, 21-12 scoreline.

The other semi-final will have the youthful Dane, Anders Antonsen, taking on China’s fifth-seeded Chen Long, who has become the new favourite for the title. Chen subdued qualifier Lee Dong Keun at 21-16, 21-13 without much fuss, while Antonsen shot down the high-flying Kazumasa Sakai by an almost identical margin, at 21-15, 21-13. Sakai, it will be recalled, had scored his third successive career triumph, without reply, over India’s HS Prannoy in the second round on Thursday.

Saturday’s semi-final line-up is as follows (prefix denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Anders Antonsen (Denmark) vs 5-Chen Long (China),

6-Shi Yuqi (China) vs 8-Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia).

Women’s singles:

1-Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei) vs 3-Sung Ji Hyun (South Korea),

6-Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand) vs 2-Pusarla V Sindhu (India).