Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu stormed into the women’s singles quarter-finals of the Arctic Open 2023 with a clinical win over Chinese Taipei’s Wen Chi Hsu in the round of 16 match at the Vantaa Energia Areena in Finland on Thursday.
World No 13 Sindhu pocketed the contest with a 21-11, 21-10 scoreline for her third win over the world No. 22 badminton player in as many matches.
Recently, the two players also faced each other in the round of 32 at the Asian Games, where the Indian shuttler also won in straight games.
On Thursday, the 28-years-old Sindhu was pushed on the back foot by Wen Chi Hsu in the early exchanges. The Indian conceded three points before scoring one but led by four points at the first break.
Thereafter, Sindhu dominated Wen Chi Hsu for the rest of the match with her signature attacking style of play. After winning the first game, PV Sindhu took a 8-1 lead in the second game and then sealed the contest in 37 minutes.
Notably, Sindhu, a former world champion and two-time Olympic medallist, hasn’t been at her best recently and is searching for her first BWF title of the 2023 badminton season. She will face the winner of the match between China’s Zhang Yi Man and Vietnam’s Thuy Linh Nguyen in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth lost to Japanese player Kanta Tsuneyama 15-21,12-21 in the men’s singles round of 16 match. On the other Hand, Kiran George also suffered a 10-21, 20-22 loss against Lu Guang Zu.
Among other Indians, the likes of Kiran George, Ashwini Ponnappa-Tanisha Crasto and Aakarshi Kashyap also will be in action later in the day.
