Sindhu in semis; heartbreak for Saina, Prannoy in Singapore Open

Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy suffered heartbreaking defeats in their respective events in the Singapore Open Super 500 Tournament on Friday. Third seed Sindhu overcame a strong challenge from Han Yue before getting the better of her Chinese rival 17-21 21-11 21-19 in a battle lasting more than an hour to book her first semifinal berth since the Thailand Open in May. Sindhu will next face unseeded Saena Kawakami, the Japanese world No.

38, who caused an upset by eliminating sixth seeded Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 21-17 21-19. With Sindhu being the only Indian in fray now, it remains to be seen if the former world champion is able to make it all the way in the last event before the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The Indian star boasts of a 2-0 head-to-head record against Saena.

Sindhu now leads 3-0 against the Chinese on head-to-head. London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal, who showed signs of her silken touch in a superb win over Chinese world No. 9 He Bing Jiao in the quarters, squandered a game lead to go down 13-21 21-15 20-21 against left-handed Japanese Aya Ohori.

The 32-year-old veteran Indian failed to convert her match points twice to hand over the tie to her Japanese opponent. In-form Prannoy also showed promise and won the first game by nine points but Kodai Naraoka levelled in the second game before sealing it 12-21 21-14 21-18. Prannoy put up an incredible battle in the decider when he bounced back from being 7-18 down and had eight straight points to make a match out of Naraoka.

From being 15-20, Prannoy saved match points and stretched it further, only to go down in a battle lasting 63 minutes. Earlier in the day, the world No. 7 Sindhu found the going tough early in the first game as Han was