Two-time World Championship bronze-medallist P V Sindhu advanced to the quarterfinals of the women’s singles competition after notching up a dominating straight-game win over Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying at the Olympic Games on Monday.
The 21-year-old from Hyderabad outclassed eighth seed Tai 21-13 21-15 in a 40-minute pre-quarterfinals clash.
And the reward? A quarter-final berth versus World No. 2 Wang Yihan who is the London 2012 Olympics silver medalist and 2011 World Championship winner and also a winner of the Asian Games gold medalist in Incheon 2014.
Sindhu joins K Srikanth in the last eight as he had reached the quarterfinals earlier in the day.
Sindhu, who had a 2-4 record against Tai Tzu, having beaten her last at the Denmark Open last year, opened up a 3-1 lead early on and even though Tai came back to draw level at 5-5, the Indian managed to lead 11-6 at the break. She took the game 21-13 after a brief fightback from Tai.
With Sindhu in full flow, Tai seemed clueless and was not able to play her own game, staying away from the net. The Chinese Taipei girl found it difficult to control the shuttle as Sindhu racked up eight match points.
Tai saved three match points before another long shot saw Sindhu seal the issue in her favour.
“It’s a good win also in the morning Srikanth has won, so it’s a great moment on the Independence Day. I wish we will give our best,” Sindhu, who will next face world number two Yihan Wang in the last eight, said.
“It will be tough, not easy. I have to give my best. I will discuss the strategy with my coach. I’ve played against her long ago, but it’s been a long gap,” Sindhu said.
Talking about her match against Tai Tzu Ying, Sindhu said: “I was basically alert for every shot. There was no particular strategy. She is a very tricky player and having many flicks and letting it loose even though I was winning points. It was a good game overall. Rallies were going long and she was having good flicks. She was also attacking and her drop shots were very good.”