Sindhu to take on Zhang in India Open final

Add as a preferred source on Google

New Delhi, February 4: Defending champion P V Sindhu stood just one step away from retaining her India Open Super 500 tournamenttitle after defeating Thailand's Ratchanok Inthanon 21-13, 21-15 in a lop-sided semifinal at the $350,000 prize-money tournament.

Sindhu dished out an aggressive game to outwit world No 3 Ratchanok in the second semifinal which ended an hour before midnight at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.

The Olympic silver medallist will face World No 11 Beiwen Zhang in the finals.

The American had entered the finals after edging out Hong Kong's sixth seeded Cheung Ngan Yi 14-21, 21-12, 21-19 in the first women's singles semifinals.

Indian mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Chopra and N Sikki Reddy, who had reached the semifinals of the Japan Open last year, went down 16-21, 19-21 against the fifth seeded Danish pair of Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen in a semifinal match, which saw the Indian duo winning four video referrals.

Mathias and Christinna had combined at the Denmark Open for the first time and it is their third finals of a major event after having finished runners-up at China Open Super Series Premier and Hong Kong Open Super Series last year.

In the men's singles category, Chinese Taipeis third seed Chou Tien Chen got the better of Chinese Qiao Bin 23-21, 21-16 to set-up a title clash against Chinese Shi Yuqi, who ended Malaysian Iskandar Zulkarnains stunning run with an 18-21, 21-10, 21-19 victory in an hour and nine minutes.

In the men's doubles category, Indonesian top-seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Danish fourth seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen advanced to the final.

Gideon-Sukamuljo took only 26 minutes to oust compatriots Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan with a 21-11, 21-16 victory. Astrup-Rasmussen pair defeated China's Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong 21-19, 21-14.

The women's doubles final will be contested between Thai second seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai and Indonesian third seeds Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu.

Jongkolphan-Rawinda defeated Chinese Du Yue and Li Yinhui 21-19, 21-17 in 56 minutes, while Greysia-Apriyani moved past Danish top seeds Kamilla Rytter Juhl Aand Christinna Pedersen 21-14, 19-21, 21-18 in an hour and 21 minutes.

(Source: Agencies)