PV Sindhu defeated Carolina Marin, to play Tai Tzu Ying in women's semifinal singles

Star thrower VP Sindhu continued her impressive run at the Malaysian Open, reaching the semifinals of the women's singles competition with a win in the 750,000 USD Tournament 750 tournament at Bukit Jalil in Malaysia . In a clash between Olympic silver and gold medalists, this is Sindhu who has won victories with a score of 22-20, 21-19 in a quarterfinal match of 52 minutes against Carolina Marin. Sindhu, 22, who won a silver medal at the Glasgow World Championship, will face world number one and Taiwan's # 1 seed Tai Tzu Ying on Saturday. Sindhu, the third seed, started the procedure with a sudden defeat and took a 3-1 lead early, but Marin recovered. Sindhu again opened a slim two-point lead that evaporated quickly.

As was the norm, Sindhu and Marin continued to fight as the leaders changed hands too often. The Indian finally took a tiny lead of 11-10 in the interval after Marin failed to reach a long-line shot. Marin dictated the pace of the rallies to open a 13-11 lead, celebrating each point with his usual verbal cries. Sindhu attacked the back of his opponent to equalize this time to 14-14 and moved to lead with a smash, which Marin hit wide. Delayed 15-18, Marin increased the attack and caught five points in a row to secure two point-of-play opportunities. A clear error and a wide shot from Marin brought Sindhu back to 20-20. The Spaniard again hit hard and then found the net when the Indian pocketed the first game.

The second match started in the same way that Sindhu and Marin moved to 3-3 before the Indian took a 6-3 lead. The left-handed southpaw, however, quickly leveled the score with three points as Sindhu made some no-nonsense mistakes. In the meantime, Sindhu took an 11-6 advantage after deflecting five consecutive points, which ended with Marin knocking out.

Marin slipped on the field after the break but managed to reduce the gap to 10-13 before moving to 14 -15. However, the Spaniard hit long, scored a shot and failed to reach a on the forecourt that Sindhu moved to 19-15. A solid defense saw Sindhu take three match points. She blew two points before triggering a smash to seal the fight in 52 minutes

(With PTI entries)