PV Sindhu Enters Semi-finals Of Denmark Open

Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu showed glimpses of her old self, dishing out a compact game to storm into the semifinals of Denmark Open Super 750 tournament with a comfortable win over World No. 19 Supanida Katethong at Odense, Denmark on Friday. The two-time Olympic medallist, who has endured a winless phase this season, displayed her immaculate retrieving skills and exemplary net play to outshine Katethong 21-19 21-12 in 47 minutes and make it to a second semifinal in two weeks.

She had reached the semifinals at Arctic Open Super 500 last week in Finland.

Sindhu will face either Spain's three-time world champion Carolina Marin or Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei next.

It hasn't been exactly smooth sailing for Sindhu in this tournament as she took three games to get rid of her opponents -- world no 28 Kristy Gilmour and world no 7 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the first two rounds.

Coming into this match, the Indian enjoyed a 3-2 record against the Thai but the twin losses at India Open 2022 and 2023 editions would still hurt Sindhu, as it came in front of her home crowds.

But on Friday, the 28-year-old somewhat erased those memories as she matched her technically sound opponent in every department and managed to limit her errors to come up trumps.

Katethong tried to make Sindhu move around the court with her pushes to the back and then drawing her to net. But Sindhu was up for it and kept at it during the fast-paced rallies. She played some cross-court forehands to good affect.

The Indian did miss a couple of points for misjudgement at the backline but that didn't matter as she grabbed a 11-8 lead with a cross-court smash.

After the change of ends, the Thai erred in the forecourt few times