Malaysia Masters: Star badminton player PV Sindhu lost to her foe Tai Tzu Ying in the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament on Friday.
A week after losing to the great Chinese Taipei at the Malaysia Open, two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu once again failed against world No. 2. She lost the 55-minute game 13-21 21-12 12-21.
It was Sindhu’s 17th career defeat of the Tokyo Olympic silver medalist. Tzu Ying last lost to Sindhu, which was at the 2019 World Championships in Basel.
Tzu Ying made her intentions clear from the start, as, after an early close duel, she managed to jump from 10-9 away to 15-9 and eventually took the lead in the match.
After changing ends, Sindhu bounced back and took an 11-4 lead. He kept a tight grip on the rallies to return to the competition.
The Indian took his momentum into the decider, leading 7-3 at one stage and for a moment it seemed, perhaps, that he had broken the Tzu Ying code, but the tables were turned, as Tai Tzu. had grabbed the two-point cushion at the last stop.
After the hiatus it was one-way traffic as Sindhu’s unforced errors as well as her opponent’s brilliance completely tilted the match in Tzu Ying’s favour, reaching 19-11.
Another rally ended with the shuttle falling to the baseline as Tzu Ying had eight match points and converted it when Sindhu went to the net again.
(Inputs from PTI)