Sindhu moves into quarter-finals of India Open

New Delhi: The world No.16 PV Sindhu defeated Yu Sun of China 19-21, 21-19, 21-15 to enter the quarter-final of India Open here on Thursday.

In the two matches she has played at the event here, it has not been smooth sailing for the Hyderabad girl. After being one game down, Sindhu fought her way back to win the second game 21-19. At one point she was trailing the second game 5-11, but clawed back with some effective use of smash, long rallies and clever net play.

Going into the third, Sindhu was high on confidence and that was evident in her deceiving drop shots and fore-hand smashes. Though her Chinese opponent had complains about the shuttle and changed in few occasions but that didn't stop Sindhu to seal the game 21-15.

Sindhu may clash with compatriot Saina Nehwal in the quarters, who has a match to play against Japan's Yui Hashimoto later in the day.

Reflecting on the match Sindhu said: "In the first game I had a chance to level when she was at game point (20-19) and I had an easy smash but I hit it out of the court. If I could have leveled the match there I could have won in two games.

"I made many simple errors which could have been avoided. In the second game I was totally down but I gained points at a stretch which helped me bounce back into the match. However, in the end I'm happy that I won the match."

On her opponent, Sindhu said: "She was taking too much time between the points and was complaining about the shuttle to the chair umpire when there was no need."

Meanwhile, she is excited about the prospect of playing Saina Nehwal in the quarter-final. "I'm eager to play saina in the quarters though we have never played against each other but we have practised together. I will try to give my best," Sindhu said.

In other matches RMV Gurusaidutt defeated compatriot K Srikanth 21-12, 21-16 while in the mixed doubles, the duo of V Diju and Jwala Gutta lost to Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam 17-21, 10-21.

Sourabh Varma also lost to Kenichi Tago of Japan 19-21, 21-16, 21-14 and in the women's doubles Ashwini Ponnappa and Pradnya Gadre lost to Japan's Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi 21-14, 20-22, 21-12.