GUANGZHOU: Defending champion PV Sindhu lost her second successive match and was knocked out of the year-ending BWF World Tour Final here.
Sindhu lost 22-20, 16-21, 12-21 against China’s Chen Yufei in a match which lasted for one hour and 12 minutes on Thursday.
After yet another defeat, Sindhu’s chances of qualifying to the semifinals were bleak but Akane Yamaguchi’s win over Bing Jiao confirmed Sindhu’s ouster from the prestigious tournament, which she had won last year.
Both Yamaguchi and Chen Yu Fei now have two wins and have qualified for the semifinals from Group A.
Trailing 17-20, Sindhu staged a dramatic turnaround to score five straight points to go from 17-20 to 22-20 and take the opening game in 24 minutes.
The second game was also a neck-and-neck affair at the start but Chen Yufei opened a wide lead at the end by bringing up six-game points and converting on her third to win the second game 21-16 in 24 minutes and take the match into decider to take the match into the decider.
There was little to separate PV Sindhu and Chen Yufei in the third game as the latter into the break with just one point lead. However, the Chinese won eight of the nine points after the lemon break to take an 18-12 lead and eventually get herself plenty of match points and win the game and the match on her first one.
Sindhu came into the second match of the tournament after losinng her 1st match 21-18, 18-21, 8-21 loss to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi on Wednesday.
The Indian now will face another Chinese shuttler He Bingjiao in her last group A match on Friday. (agencies)
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