Malaysia Masters 2024 badminton: PV Sindhu beats top seed Han Yue to storm into semi-finals

Former world champion PV Sindhu progressed to the semi-finals of the Malaysia Masters 2024 badminton women’s singles event after a three-game victory over the People’s Republic of China’s Han Yue at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

PV Sindhu, 15th in the latest badminton world rankings, defeated the top-seeded 21-13, 14-21, 21-12. Despite losing the second game, Sindhu, seeded fifth, managed to keep her composure in the decider to secure the win over her world No. 6 opponent in 55 minutes.

The two-time Olympic medallist clinched five consecutive points to win the first game from a 16-13 lead.

Han Yue began the second game on a positive note and opened up a 15-3 lead at one point. Although Sindhu was able to close the gap to 18-13, she failed to overturn the initial deficit and was forced to play a decider.

In the final game, the 28-year-old showed her intent early on and took a 9-1 lead. That initial dominance was enough to see her through the third game and secure her progress to the last four.

Sindhu, who had recently skipped the Uber Cup and Thailand Open, will be up against world No. 20 Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand for a place in the final of the BWF Super 500 tournament.

The Indian badminton player is looking to win her first BWF World Tour title since winning the Singapore Open back in 2022.

Meanwhile, Ashmita Chaliha’s campaign in women’s singles ended in the quarter-finals after she lost to sixth seed Zhang Yi Man of China in straight games.

Chaliha, ranked 53rd in the world, suffered a 21-10, 21-15 defeat to her world No. 16 opponent in 30 minutes. She had earlier stunned world No. 10 Beiwen Zhang of USA 21-19, 16-21, 21-12 to secure a place in the quarter-finals.

PV Sindhu is now the lone Indian still alive in the BWF Super 500 tournament.

Kiran George, who was the only Indian in men’s singles, had crashed out of the tournament in the second round.

The women’s doubles pairs of Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Simran Singhi-Ritika Thaker also failed to get past the second round along with mixed doubles pair B Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy.

India’s campaign in men’s doubles, led by Krishna Prasad Garag and Sai Pratheek K, also ended on Thursday.