French Open: PV Sindhu Loses In Semifinals

India's double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu failed to reach the women's singles summit clash after going down fighting to Japan's Sayaka Takahashi in three games in semifinals at the French Open badminton tournament on Saturday.

India's double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu failed to reach the women's singles summit clash after going down fighting to Japan's Sayaka Takahashi in three games at the French Open badminton tournament on Saturday. The 26-year-old from Hyderabad squandered a one-game advantage to lose 21-18 16-21 12-21 against the world number 15 Takahashi, a bronze medallist at the 2013 and 2014 Asian Championships. It was her fourth defeat to the 29-year-old Japanese in eight meetings. Sindhu, the reigning world champion, had lost in the quarterfinals at the Denmark Open last week in Odense.

The world number 7 Indian started the match on a positive note as there was little to separate the two. The duo played short rallies, trying to outwit each other with their attacking shots.

After going neck-and-neck from 5-5 to 9-9 in the opening game, Takahashi unleashed a powerful smash which hit Sindhu's cheeks, to lead 10-9, but the Indian recovered to level the scores with a cross court smash. The Japanese had a slender one-point advantage at the break.

After the interval, Sindhu quickly erased a two-point deficit with a diagonal return before grabbing a one-point lead after winning a 27-shot rally. Takahashi exploited Sindhu's weak backhand to regain the lead. She added another point with a lucky net chord but the Indian unleashed three back-to-back smashes to make it 17-16.

A misjudgement at the forecourt and two net errors by Takahashi gave Sindhu four game points. The Indian wasted two of them before slamming down a winner to pocket the first game. After the change of ends, Sindhu continued her momentum, leading 5-2 early on. However, Takahashi again clawed her way back at 6-6, with Sindhu going wide.