A frustrated PV Sindhu suffered a quarter-final exit at the $210,000 Spain Masters after she went down fighting in three games at the Centro Deportivo Municipal Gallur in Madrid on Friday.
The former world champion was down five match points (15-20) in the decider before staging a brilliant fightback to level the contest at 20-all. But a couple of errors from Sindhu let Thai sixth seed Supanida Katethong win 24-26, 21-17, 22-20 in a marathon contest that lasted an hour and 17 minutes.
Frustrated at not having pulled it off, second seed Sindhu smashed her racquet on the court, perhaps for the first time in her career, to earn a yellow card from the chair umpire.
Effectively the top seed after local girl Carolina Marin pulled out of the Super 300 tournament, Sindhu had a good chance of ending her title drought – her last title came at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham – as none of the top players are playing in Madrid. Instead, southpaw Katethong has booked a semi-final date against South Korean third seed Kim Ga Eun.
The first game was a tight affair where the double Olympic medallist wasted four game points before converting her fifth chance. While the second game was also tight at the start, the world No.17 Thai pulled away to push the match into the decider.
This was Supanida’s fourth win in nine meetings against Sindhu, who is next scheduled to play at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, in April.
However, mixed pair and couple N Sikki Reddy and B Sumeeth Reddy continued their strong run by reaching the semi-finals with a 14-21, 21-11, 21-17 win in 41 minutes against Indonesian fourth seeds Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Lisa Ayu Kusumawati. They will next face another Indonesian pair, sixth seeds Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari for a place in the final.
Women’s doubles third seeds Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, however, lost 13-21, 19-21 to Chinese Taipei sixth seeds Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun. Men’s doubles eighth seeds Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun also lost 19-21, 23-21, 17-21 to Malaysians Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap.
