Former World champion, PV Sindhu came from behind to beat the seventh-seed Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung to advance to the quarter-finals of the Denmark Open Badminton at the Jyske Bank Arena in Odense on Thursday.
Currently ranked 12th in the world, Sindhu, staged a dramatic rally to oust Tunjung, 8-21, 21-15, 21-13 in her round of 16 match at the BWF Super 750 tournament.
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The Indian who made the semi-finals of the Arctic Open last week, had accounted for Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour in the opening round at Odense on Tuesday.
Sindhu got off to a wobbly start and conceded the opening game to Tunjung without too much of a resistance. The Indian however, recovered in the second game and raced to a 13-4 lead.
Tunjung, who beat Sindhu in the final of the Madrid Spain Masters earlier this year, rallied to level up the scores at 14-all. Sindhu held her nerves and responded with a cluster of six points of her own before forcing a deciding game.
In what turned out to be a roller-coaster of a third game, Sindhu found herself trailing 10-13 at one point but managed to win the next 11 points on the trot to close out the contest in minutes. This was Sindhu’s ninth win over Tunjung in as many meetings.
In the quarters, Sindhu will face Thailand’s world No. 19 Supanida Katethong, who ousted Aakarshi Kashyap in the round of 16.
World No. 38, who upset Germany’s Yvonne Li in the opening round, lost 18-21, 8-21 to Katethong.
Aakarshi Kashyap’s exit makes Sindhu the only Indian remaining at the Denmark Open .
Results at the Denmark Open will count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris Olympics.
