P V Sindhu kept the Indian challenge alive at Denmark Open, a BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament, with a win over China’s Han Yue in the round of 16 in Odense on Thursday.
Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu, who entered the contest with a 6-1 head-to-head advantage, beat fourth seed and World No. 7 Han 18-21, 21-12, 21-16 in an hour and three minutes to reach the quarterfinals.
Han led 11-9 at the mid-game interval in the opener. The Chinese shuttler increased her advantage in the second-half and went 18-13. World No. 18 Sindhu saved four game points but Han converted her fifth chance with a cross-court smash.
The Indian started the second game by winning three straight points. As Han made numerous errors, Sindhu led 11-6 at the halfway point and duly closed it out at 21-12 to take the match to a decider.
Initially, Han had the upper hand in the third game as she was up 11-7. However, Sindhu bounced back to win four points on the trot, including one after a 29-shot rally, to level the score.
It was turning out to be a close contest as Han led 16-15 but from thereon, the Indian clinched six consecutive points and wrapped up the win.
The Indian led Pai Yu Po 21-8, 13-7 in the first round when her opponent from Chinese Taipei was forced to retire from the contest.
Sindhu will face either fifth-seeded Indonesian Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, the Paris Olympics bronze medallist, or local hope Mia Blichfeldt in the quarterfinals on Friday.
This is the second tournament for the 29-year-old Sindhu since her loss to He Bing Jiao at the Olympics. Last week, she exited the Arctic Open in Finland in the first round.
