Defending champion PV Sindhu reached the quarterfinals of the women's singles segment at the BWF World Championships in Huelva, Spain, on Thursday. She beat Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 21-14, 21-18 in the pre-quarterfinal match that lasted 48 minutes. With the win,
Sindhu faces top seed and World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei next. Ying beat Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland 21-10, 19-21, 21-11, in the quarterfinals.
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In her match against the World No. 10, Sindhu took an early 5-1 lead but Chochuwong rallied to narrow the gap to 5-4 and then to 10-9. The Indian zoomed ahead from there on as she made it 15-10 and then 19-11 to pocket the first game.
The second game was a tighter affair though.
Sindhu began on the front foot with a 3-0 lead. She led 11-6 at the change of ends and the second half saw some long rallies with the Thai player winning a few of them.
The Indian double Olympic medallist was leading 16-10 but Chochuwong made a comeback, reducing the gap to 18-15 and then to 19-18.
Sindhu won a crucial point after a long rally to make it 20-18 before winning the second game and the match.
(With inputs from PTI)