In the women’s singles quarterfinals late on Friday night, Sindhu, a double Olympic medallist, asserted her power over Fang Jie to record her first victory in four encounters against her opponent with a commanding 21-13 21-7 score.
Sen will now compete against fourth-seeded Japanese Kenta Nishimoto, while Sindhu will take against world No. 1 Japan’s Yamaguchi.
PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen, both Commonwealth Games champions, recorded opposing victories to advance to the semifinals of the Canada Open Super 500 badminton competition in Calgary. With a commanding 21-13 21-7 triumph over Fang Jie in the women’s singles quarterfinals late on Friday night, double Olympic medalist Sindhu stamped her control over the opponent and won for the first time in four matches. Sen later defeated Julien Carraggi, a German qualifier, 21-8, 17-21, 21-10 in the men’s singles quarterfinal.
Sen will now compete against fourth-seeded Japanese Kenta Nishimoto, while Sindhu will take against world No. 1 Japan’s Yamaguchi.
The top-seeded Japanese player, who defeated the Indian in their most recent match at the Singapore Open this year, has a favourable 14-10 head-to-head record versus the 28-year-old from Hyderabad.
Sen, on the other hand, has faced Nishimoto just once, in the 2022 Japan Open, and has a 1-1 record against him.
As she quickly jumped up to a 5-1 lead early on, Sindhu appeared more aware. Fang Jie was bothered by her signature drops and smashes, who also made a lot of careless mistakes. The Indian led 11-6 going into the interval.
Sindhu returned everything thrown at her with ease because she was swift on her feet and covered the court efficiently. Fang Jie cut the lead to 10-14 and then 12-16 with a few shuttles to the net, but Sindhu ended the match with two whipping smashes.
The second game began evenly, with Fang Jie managing to take a slim 5-3 lead at one point. However, Sindhu immediately turned the tide, reaching the halftime score at 11-5 with her opponent scoring.
Most of the time, Sindhu forced her opponent to work hard while controlling the rallies to advance. The Chinese attempted to be precise but missed the lines, quickly handing the match to the Indian with two net mistakes.
