Jakarta: PV Sindhu celebrated her 23rd birthday Thursday with a straight-game win over Japan’s Aya Ohori, while HS Prannoy eked out a three-game victory over Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei to enter the quarterfinals of the USD 1,250,000 Indonesia Open badminton tournament here.
World No.3 didn’t break much sweat as she defeated Ohori, ranked 17th, 21-17, 21-14 in a 36-minute women’s singles match. This was Sindhu’s fifth win over the Japanese in as many meetings.
Prannoy recovered from an opening game loss to outwit Wang 21-23, 21-15, 21-13 in an entertaining men’s singles contest that lasted an hour here. He is likely to meet third seed and All England champion Shi Yuqi of China.
In the opening game, World No.17 Wang opened up a 14-10 lead but Prannoy soon narrowed it down to 13-14 with the help of two smashes and a quick return of serve.
Wang again curved out a 17-14 advantage with a cross court smash. Prannoy gained two more points at the net and clawed back at 19-19 after Wang hit long. Another precise return at the back line handed Prannoy a game point but he squandered it. Prannoy made a line error and miscued a net return before a lucky net chord helped Wang to pocket the opening game.
However, Prannoy from the second game onwards changed gears and never really allowed Wang to dictate terms. He was up and running and soon built up a 17-12 lead. Even though Wang managed to close the gap, Prannoy had no difficulty closing the game and restoring parity.
In the decider, Prannoy was more aggressive as he zoomed to a 10-2 lead. However, some unforced errors helped Wang to close the gap to 7-10. The Indian however, soon regained his composure and run away with the match.
Earlier, Sindhu erased an early 0-3 deficit to surge to 10-8 and 16-12 lead and held on to her own despite a charge from Ohori.
In the second game, the Indian produced a more dominating display as she moved to a 10-3 advantage and consolidated it to grab a 17-8 lead. Ohori narrowed the lead to 12-17 but Sindhu soon shut the door comfortably.
