US Open Badminton 2023: PV Sindhu enters quarterfinal; Lakshya Sen, Sankar Muthusamy set up last 8 clash

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Iowa (USA), July 14: Top Indian shuttler PV Sindhu breezed past Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei via straight games to enter the women's singles quarterfinal in US Open Badminton 2023 at the Council Bluffs in Iowa, USA on Thursday (July 13).

The two-time Olympic medallist from India defeated the Chinese Taipei shuttler 21-14, 21-12 in the second round match that lasted for 37 minutes on court 3. Sindhu will next face China's Gao Fang Jie in the last 8 match on Friday (July 14).

Sindhu hardly broke a sweat against Sung, who couldn't pose any real challenge to the Indian during the match. Sindhu jumped to a 7-2 lead early on in the first game before extending it to 13-5.

Sung managed to narrow down the deficit to 11-14 but Sindhu dashed any hope of a comeback, keeping a grip on the rallies to eventually earn the bragging rights by winning the game 21-14.

After the change of sides, Sung started to match up to the Indian initially as she had a slender 5-3 lead but it soon evaporated with Sindhu breaking off from 7-7 to march ahead. At the interval, Sindhu had a 11-8 lead and she kept moving ahead as Sung crumbled.

From 16-12, Sindhu reeled off the remaining points without much ado, winning the game and the match by sealing a 21-11 win. She will now face the Chinese opponent for the fifth time, having beaten her only once in the four previous attempts. That one win came last week in Calgary during the Canada Open.

Another top Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen, who is fresh from the Canada Open win from last week, also reached the quarterfinal, where he will face compatriot Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, who came through the qualfiers to reach the last 8.

Third-seeded Sen defeated Czech Republic's Jan Louda in straight games 21-8 23-21 in the men's singles second round match that lasted for 39 minutes on court 1. Sen blazed his way to a 6-1 lead and then jumped to 17-5 in a jiffy to take it away from his opponent in the opening game.

The 39-year-old Czech, however, made a remarkable comeback in the second game, making life tough for Sen. Jan was 8-5 up and also held a 19-14 advantage, giving hope for a reversal but Sen scripted a sensational recovery with five points to claw back at 19-19. Sen then saved a game point to close out the match after some tight rallies.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Sankar Muthusamy registered a fighting 21-18 21-23 21-13 win over Israel's Misha Zilberman. Now, Sankar Muthusamy and Sen will clash in an all-Indian quarterfinal in the early hours of Saturday (July 15).

(With PTI inputs)