Sindhu loses epic battle against Chen in French Open quarters

PARIS: P V 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 here on Friday.

On a comeback trail from a four-month-long injury layoff, Sindhu gave ample display of her strokeplay 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.

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. 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 to gather points with some delectable drops, cross court winners and some precise returns at her opponent’s forehand corner.

From 19-19, the two moved neck-and-neck till 22-22 before Sindhu converted a third game point opportunity by unleashing a superb forehand cross court drop.

Sindhu made a confident 4-2 lead after the change of sides with Chen sending the shuttle long twice.

However, the Chinese turned the tables as Sindhu went wide twice and Chen produced a backhand drop and a cross court smash to lead 7-4.

The Indian drew parity again at 7-7 but Chen pulled away to 11-9 with a disguised return after Sindhu sprayed into nets twice. Sindhu kept the pressure on her opponent and restored parity at 13-13 with another delightful drop.

However, a rare service errors by Sindhu gave Chen an opportunity and she unleashed a straight smash and a body blow to move ahead.