World Ranking No. 15. PV In a 59-minute women’s singles second-round match, Sindhu—a former world champion—beat Sim 21-13 12-21 21-14 to earn her third victory against the 34-ranked Korean.
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, survived a scare before defeating Korea’s Sim Yu Jin, but the highlight of the day was Ashmita Chaliha’s surprise victory against third seed Beiwen Zhang of the United States in the second round of the Malaysia Masters on Thursday. World No. 15 Sindhu, a former world champion, defeated Sim 21-13 12-21 21-14 in a 59-minute women’s singles second-round match, earning her third victory over the Korean world number 34. Since returning to action following a knee injury sustained in October last year, the 28-year-old from Hyderabad has struggled to find his best form.
Sindhu, who is placed fifth, will face top seed Han Yue in a revenge match. The Chinese had defeated her at the Asia Badminton Championships in Ningbo last month.
Sindhu, who last won a championship at the 2022 Singapore Open, has a 5-1 head-to-head record versus Han, who is presently ranked world number 6. Later, the 24-year-old Ashmita, ranked 53rd, dominated world number ten Zhang 21-19 16-21 21-12 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Super 500 badminton event as well.
This is her second quarterfinal participation in a super 500 event, having advanced to the last eight in the 2022 Indian Open.
The Guwahati shuttler will face sixth-seeded Chinese Zhang Yi Man, who is rated sixteenth.
Sindhu was left to catch up in the opening game, behind 3-7. But she fought her way back, taking a slim 11-10 lead into halftime. The Indians then went on a seven-point run to win the opener.
The second game was a close battle between the two, with Han taking a one-point lead at halftime. She seized the momentum after resuming.
The Korean quickly led 14-10 and went on to win seven of the next nine points, bringing the game back into contention.
Sim started well again, leading 5-1 in the decider. But Sindhu clawed back to 6-6 before the Korean went up 9-8 at one point.
The Indian then seized charge, going up 13-9 before closing with a five-point run from 16-14 to win the game.
Ashmita has been in fantastic form, having upset Canada’s Michelle Li and coming close to winning Japan’s Aya Ohori at the Uber Cup and China’s Han Yue in Thailand last week.
On Thursday, the left-handed shuttler maintained her grip, opening up a 4-1 lead before leading 11-10 at the break. Beiwen took a 14-13 lead and led 17-17 at one point, but the Indian held on to win the first game.
After the change of sides, there was little to separate the two as they split the points until 8-8, when Beiwen took the lead with three straight points. She kept the Indian at bay, allowing the match to go to the last round.
In the third game, Ashmita came out firing, jumping ahead 11-4 at the break and then continuing her winning streak.
In other events, fifth seed Lee Zii Jia defeated Kiran George in the men’s singles, 13-21, 18-21.
Korean duo Sung Shuo Yun and Yu Chien Hui defeated Commonwealth Games bronze medalists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who were ranked seventh, 18-21, 22-20, and 14-21.
In the women’s doubles category, Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker lost 17-21 11-21 to second-seeded Malaysians Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan. The mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy also lost, falling 9-21 15-21 to the top-seeded Malaysian pair of Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei.
