PV Sindhu marches into Hong Kong semis

New Delhi: P.V. Sindhu ousted Japan’s fifth seed Akane Yamaguchi to enter the women’s singles semi-finals of the $400,000 Hong Kong Open badminton tournament on Friday.

The second seed took 37 minutes to beat world no.2 Akane 21-12, 21-19 in the quarter-finals at the Hong Kong Coliseum.

She face former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the last-four clash on Saturday.

Sixth seed Ratchanok beat Canadian Michelle Li 21-14, 21-16 in 39 minutes in the other quarter-final.

The 22-year-old Sindhu has a 1-4 head-to-head record against the former world no.1.

It will be their first meeting this year. Sindhu was in supreme form and maintained a lead right from the start.

The 20-year-old Japanese wasn’t able to match her opponent’s strokes and the Hyderabad girl was able to close out the game in 15 minutes. Sindhu again took a 3-0 lead in the second game and was looking to replicate what she did in the opener.

Akane was up for the fight but couldn’t bridge the gap.