India’s PV Sindhu fought her heart out before going down narrowly to Thailand’s Supanida Katethong in the women’s singles quarter finals of the Madrid Spain Masters Super 300 badminton tournament here on Friday.
Sindhu, who had finished runner-up in 2023, recovered from an early 4-8 deficit and saved multiple game points to grab the opening game, but she couldn’t go the distance as the sixth-seeded Thai registered a 24-26, 21-17, 22-20 win after a see-saw battle.
However, India’s husband-wife combo of N Sikki Reddy and B Sumeeth Reddy notched up a 14-21, 21-11, 21-17 win over Indonesia’s fourth seed Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Lisa Ayu Kusumawati to enter the mixed doubles semi-finals.
The women’s doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, seeded third, lost 13-21, 19-21 to sixth-seeded Taiwan’s Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun in the quarter finals.
Sindhu had a 5-3 record against the world no. 17 Supanida with the two having played some exciting matches in the last two years.
It was as much a physical battle as of skills for Sindhu, who didn’t face much resistance in the initial rounds. The start was slow for Sindhu as she found herself 3-7 behind but she rallied to pocket a three-point advantage with a body smash and a fine net shot.
The rallies started getting tighter after resumption as Sindhu kept ahead at 14-10, but thereafter, momentum kept changing with Supanida grabbing two game points when Sindhu found the net.
However, Sindhu unleashed two timely smashes to draw level. The Indian sent one long before producing a body smash as it was 21-21. The Thai grabbed a game point by pushing one to the back but sent a forehand to net next as it was 24-24.
An excruciating rally ended with Supanida sending one wide as Sindhu had another advantage and this time the Thai again faltered at the net.
The change of ends didn’t lower the intensity as the two fought tooth and nail till Sindhu opened up a 10-8 lead.
However, Supanida was quick to grab three points to enter the break with a three-point cushion. As the match wore on, Sindhu looked a bit tired as Supanida made her run with angled returns and extended the rallies.
