Malaysia Masters: Sindhu struggles past Sim Yu Jin to enter quarters

Kuala Lumpur: Two-time Olympic-medallist PV Sindhu survived a scare before prevailing over Korea's Sim Yu Jin in three games to enter the quarterfinals of Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament here on Thursday.
World No. 15 Sindhu, a former world champion, saw off Sim 21-13 12-21 21-14 in a 59-minute women's singles second-round match to register her third win over the Korean world number 34.

The 28-year-old from Hyderabad hasn't been able to hit top form ever since returning to action following a knee injury sustained in October last year.

Sindhu, seeded fifth, will next face top seed Han Yue in a revenge match. The Chinese had defeated her in their last meeting at the Asia badminton Championships in Ningbo last month. Sindhu, who last won a title in 2022 Singapore Open, has an overwhelming 5-1 head-to-head record against Han, who is now ranked world number 6.

Sindhu was left to do the catching up job in the opening game as she trailed 3-7. But she fought her way back and grabbed a slender 11-10 advantage at the break. The Indian then reeled off seven points to run away with the opening game.

The second game was a tight affair as the two fought hard with Han managing to take a one-point advantage at the interval. She snatched the momentum after resumption. The Korean was soon up 14-10 and went on to win seven of the next nine points to roar back into the contest.

Sim once again made a positive start to move to a 5-1 lead in the decider. But Sindhu clawed back at 6-6 before the Korean was up 9-8 at one stage. The Indian then took control and zoomed to 13-9 before a five-point burst from 16-14 to seal the contest.

In other results, the mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy lost 9-21 15-21 to top-seeded Malaysian pair of Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei, while Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker went down 17-21 11-21 to second-seeded Malaysians Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in women's doubles.