India’s PV Sindhu fought her hardest before narrowly falling to Thailand’s Supanida Katethong in the women’s singles quarter-finals of the Madrid Spain Masters Super 300 badminton tournament on Friday. Sindhu, who had finished second in 2023, recovered from an early 4-8 deficit and saved several game points to take the opener, but she could not go the distance as the sixth-seeded Thai recorded a 24-26. 17 22-20 win after a seesaw battle.
However, Indian husband-wife pair N Sikki Reddy and B Sumeeth Reddy had a lot to cheer about as they registered a 14-21 21-11 21-17 win over Indonesia’s fourth seeds Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Lisa Ayu Kusumawati to enter the semi-final mixed doubles.
Third-seeded women’s doubles pair Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 13-21, 19-21 to sixth-seeded Chinese Taipei players Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun in the quarter-finals.
Sindhu had a 5-3 record against the world number one. 17 Supanida, with the two having played some exciting matches over the past two years.
It was a physical battle as well as a battle of skills for Sindhu, who did not face much resistance in the early rounds.
The start was slow for Sindhu as she trailed 3-7 at one point, but she rallied to take a three-point lead with a body smash and a fine net shot.
The rallies started to tighten after the restart as Sindhu remained ahead at 14-10, but thereafter the momentum continued to change and Supanida grabbed two game points as Sindhu found the net.
However, Sindhu unleashed two timely smashes to level the score. The Indian sent one long before producing a body smash as it was 21-21. Sindhu grabbed a game point when Supanida made a mistake during a net dribble, but she squandered it with a net error.
Sindhu’s net foul was canceled as Supanida missed the back line and it was then 23-23. The Thai grabbed another game point by pushing one back, but sent a forehand to the next goal as it was 24-24.
An excruciating rally ended with Supanida sending one wide as Sindhu again had the advantage and this time the Thai again hesitated at the net as the Indian pumped her fist.
The change of ends did not diminish the intensity as the two fought tooth and nail during a number of tense rallies until Sindhu opened up a 10-8 lead.
However, Supanida quickly grabbed three points and went into halftime with a three-point cushion.
As the match progressed, Sindhu looked a little tired as Supanida made her run with an oblique return and extended the rallies. Two powerful smashes helped Sindhu make it 17-18.
With two steep gains to her rival’s body, Supanida took three game points and roared back into the match as Sindhu slotted another into the net.
In the decider, Sindhu recovered to take a 10–5 lead, but she let it slip as Supanida pulled off five points to lead 14–12 and then took five match points.
A rearguard action from Sindhu, including two crosscourts and a straight smash, raised hopes of another turnaround as she leveled at 20-20, but two unforced errors from the Indian dashed her hopes.
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