Sindhu, India's last remaining hope in the India Open Super Series, beaten 12-21, 6-21 by Ratchanok Intanon
India’s campaign at the USD 200,000 India Open Super Series came to an end here on Saturday after PV Sindhu and Anand Pawar lost their semi-final matches at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.
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Home favourite Sindhu, who lost to third seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 12-21, 6-21 in 31 minutes, said things just did not go her way.
“I played well at the start and I was leading too but then I started making several errors and things just did not go my way. She was playing more at the front where I made a lot mistakes which I should not have.
“In the second game I gave a huge lead of 13 points from where it was very difficult to make a comeback,” said the 17-year-old, who made her second Super Series semi-final in New Delhi appearance after China Masters last year.
Sindhu thanked the crowd for supporting her and said she will try her best the next time.u00a0“It was not as if I was tense playing in front of my home crowd but things just did not go my way.
I want to thank the crowd for coming out and supporting me each day and I am sorry for disappointing them. All I can say is I will try my best next time,” added Sindhu, who left the stadium immediately to catch a flight to Kuala Lumpur to play at the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold where she is seeded No 1.
Earlier in the day in men’s singles, Pawar’s dream run came to an end losing to Japanese World No 9 Tago. Tago increased his career head-to-head to 2-0. The last time they played was at the Scottish International Championships way back in 2007.
The sixth seed proved too good for Pawar, who could not keep up with the pace. Pawar’s smashes were easily picked by Tago, who in-turn regularly aimed at Pawar while smashing which the Indian was unable to retrieve.
Tago was dominant from the back of the court hitting 23 smashes to Pawar’s 16. The Japanese was immaculate at the net also winning 13 points to Pawar’s three.u00a0The sixth seed will next face top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, who beat Thai seventh seed Boonsak Ponsana.u00a0
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