Basel, March 13 (IANS): World No. 9 shuttler P.V. Sindhu staged an amazing come-from-behind victory to progress to the women’s singles quarterfinals at the $125,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold at St. Jakobshalle here Thursday.
The seventh seed lost a cliff-hanger first game to Canada’s Li Michelle but displayed all her grit and experience to win the next two to enter the last eight. The World Championship bronze medallist ousted her unseeded opponent 19-21, 21-16, 21-11 in 54 minutes to take a 2-0 lead in career meets.
Sindhu had also beaten the World No. 23 Li in straight games in December 2013 to lift her second Gold Prix Gold title at the Macau Open. She will next take on World No. 2 and third seed Shixian Wang of China in the quarters.
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Fresh from her victory at the All England Open Badminton Championships last week, Shixian is in top form and Sindhu will have to play her best to take out the Chinese player. However, Sindhu can take heart from the fact that she has an unbeaten 2-0 record against Shixian.
Earlier, Mumbai’s Anand Pawar crashed out of the men’s singles third round after losing to Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chen Chou. Despite a dominating performance in the first game, the Indian went on to lose the next two games tamely to the sixth seed to end his European campaign.
Chou won 14-21, 21-12, 21-12 in 51 minutes to take a 3-0 career advantage over Pawar.
Parupalli Kashyap and Saina Nehwal play their respective matches later in the day.
