SYDENY: Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu stormed into the women's singles semi-finals of the Australian Open Super 500 badminton tournament with a commanding straight-game victory, here on Friday.
The third-seeded Indian outclassed Chinese Taipei's Chen Su Yu 21-6, 21-9 in a one-sided quarter-final contest that lasted just 27 minutes. Sindhu next faces top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, who ended the impressive run of Indian teenager Tanvi Sharma with a 21-14, 21-14 victory in 32 minutes.
Sindhu incidentally holds a narrow 15-13 head-to-head advantage over the world No. 3 Japanese. Sindhu dominated proceedings from the outset, using her superior reach and court coverage to keep her opponent under constant pressure. She raced through the opening game before maintaining the momentum in the second to seal her place in the last-four.
The semi-final appearance marks a significant boost for Sindhu, who has endured an inconsistent season and has been searching for rhythm on the BWF World Tour and is in search for her first title since Syed Modi International in December 2024. But the Indian men's doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun exited in the quarterfinals after conceding their match while trailing 19-21 9-16 against Chen Cheng Kuan and Liu Kuang Heng of Chinese Taipei.