Indonesia Open 2021 | Indian challenge ends as PV Sindhu bows out in semis
Two-time Olympics medalist PV Sindhu bowed out of the Indonesia Open after she lost her semi-final encounter against Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon 21-15, 9-21, 14-21 on Saturday. This was Sindhu's third successive semis loss at a BWF event, after the French Open and the Indonesia Masters.
Sindhu started the match with all guns blazing and had an 8-3 lead at the start of the first game. She had no problems in closing the first game at 21-15. To come back in the match, the Thai girl needed something special, and she delivered.
She took a strong lead in the second game at 11-7 and closed it at 21-9. She managed to surprise Sindhu with her strong smashes and clever netplay. In the third and deciding game too, Intanon managed to take an early lead of 11-5. That proved to be detrimental, and Sindhu lost the match yet again to Intanon -- her third consecutive defeat to the world no.8.
Now Intanon will be up against South Korea’s An Seyoung in the final. Meanwhile, Sindhu played her last final at the Swiss Open this year, where she lost to Carolina Marin.
On the other hand, the pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy too lost their semis clash against the top-seeded pair of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon from Indonesia. The world no.11 pair lost the match 21-16, 21-18.