PV Sindhu cruises into All England Open quarter-finals

India’s PV Sindhu comfortably beat Denmark’s Line Christophersen 21-8, 21-8 on Thursday to sail into the quarter-finals of the All England Open Badminton Championships 2021.

PV Sindhu will next face Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi – the women’s world No. 5 – in the final eight on Friday.

The Indian shuttler was in control of her match from the get-go. With the score at 1-1, PV Sindhu took 13 consecutive points and never looked back.

The world No. 45 Christophersen put up very little resistance and went down 21-8 in the first game.

Christophersen seemed to be putting up a much better fight in the second game and trailed PV Sindhu by just three points going into the mid-game break.

The world No. 7 Indian, though, took control after the restart and won 10 points on the trot to wrap up the game and the match.

The day started with Indian mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa going down to the Japanese team of Yuki Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo.

The Indian duo put up a strong challenge in the first game but submitted rather tamely in the second to lose the match 21-19, 21-9.

In men’s singles, HS Prannoy tried to take the game to Japan’s Kento Momota and showcased some attacking badminton. The Indian, however, failed to overpower the world No. 1 who saw off the Indian’s challenge to win the match 21-15, 21-14.

It was Kento Momota’s second Indian scalp of the tournament, having already knocked out Parupalli Kashyap in the first round.

It took a gallant display by youngster Lakshya Sen to bring up the first victory of the day for Indian shuttlers. The 19-year-old edged out French opponent Thomas Rouxel 21-18, 21-17 to advance in the competition.

The win made Lakshya Sen the youngest Indian to ever reach the All England Open quarter-finals.

B Sai Praneeth, meanwhile, squandered a one-game lead against world No. 2 and Rio 2016 Viktor Axelsen. The Indian outplayed the Dane 21-15 in the first game but failed to make the most out of it, losing the remaining two games by identical 21-12 scorelines.

In men’s doubles, Satwik and Chirag Shetty went down fighting against Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. The Indian team lost 16-21, 21-11, 17-21.

In stark contrast, women’s doubles team of Ashwini Ponnapaa and N Sikki Reddy upset sixth seeds Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria 21-17, 21-10. Ponnappa and Reddy play Dutch duo Selena Piek and Cheryl Seinen in the quarter-finals.

Ponnappa and Reddy became the first Indian women's doubles pair in history to make the quarterfinals of the All England Open.

Other Indian badminton results at All England Open Day 2:

Mixed Doubles: Dhruv Kapila/Meghana Jakkampudi (IND) lost 19-21, 8-21 to Niclas Nohr/Amalie Magelund (DEN)

Men’s Singles: Sameer Verma (IND) lost 20-22, 10-21 to Anders Antonsen (DEN)

For more updates, visit our live blog of Day 2 of the All England Open.

Lead photo: Badmintonphoto - Courtesy of BWF.