Fighting PV Sindhu Loses Epic Battle Against Olympic Champion Chen Yu Fei In French Open

India's PV Sindhu produced a gallant fight before marginally falling short against reigning Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei of China in an epic quarterfinal at the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament on Friday. On a comeback trail from a four-month-long injury layoff, Sindhu gave ample display of her strokeplay and physical fitness during a marathon one hour and 32-minute battle before settling for a 24-22 17-21 18-21 loss to the second seed and defending champion Chen in a riveting last eight battle. The last time Sindhu had beaten the world no. 2 Chen was en route to her 2019 World Championships gold. Since then the Indian has lost to the Chinese twice in the last two meetings although she held a better 6-5 head-to-head record against her opponent coming into the crucial tie.

Playing a top-class opponent after quite sometime, Sindhu didn't show any sign off the left knee injury that had pushed her out of the circuit since October last year.

There was nothing to separate the two as Sindhu produced an attacking display and also moved well on the court but a steady Chen Yu Fei managed to keep her nose ahead in the end.

Sindhu and Chen played some excruciating rallies with the Chinese using high tosses and lifts to keep the Indian at the back. But Sindhu tried to step up the pace. The result was both moved together till 6-6.

But Sindhu then dumped one at the net and sent another one wide while Chen unleashed a cross-court return to move ahead. The Chinese had five points at the break when Sindhu made a misjudgement at the backline.

An unperturbed Sindhu, however, slowly made her way back to first claw back at 15-15 to take a lead with a five-point run.

While the Chinese kept targeting Sindhu's body, the Indian managed