Malaysia Masters: PV Sindhu loses hard-fought quarter-final to Tai Tzu Ying

India campaign at the Malaysia Masters came to an end after Saina Nehwal suffered quarter-final defeat at the hands of Olympic Champion Carolina Marin on Friday. Earlier, PV Sindhu faced defeat at the hands of Tzu Ying Tai in straight games 16-21, 16-21.
Sindhu, seeded 6th, suffered 16-21, 17-21 defeat to the World No.1 Tzu Ying Tai. PV Sindhu’s wait for her first title on the tour outside World Championships in 2019 continues after another failure.

Sindhu was erratic at the start, failing to capitalize on her leads and eventually lost the first game 16-21 to hand a 1-0 advantage to Tzu Ying.

In the second game, Sindhu could do little as Tzu Ying completely dominated the proceedings from start to end. Trailing 11-20, Sindhu saved six match points but it was too late as Tzu Ying sealed the game 21-16.

This was Sindhu’s 12th loss to Tai in 17 meetings as the Chinese Taipei shuttler won her second consecutive match against the Indian. Sindhu has been struggling for form since her title-winning run at World Championships in Basel in August.

Earlier, Sindhu had outclassed Japan’s Aya Ohori 21-10, 21-15 in a 2nd-round match that lasted around 34 minutes to reach the quarter-finals. Sindhu seeded sixth, had taken just 35 minutes to beat Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia 21-15 21-13 in the first round.

Another Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal will take on Olympic champion Carolina Marin in other quarterfinals today in Kuala Lumpur.