Defending champion P.V Sindhu notched up a comfortable straight-game win in women’s singles to enter the final but young shuttler H.S Prannoy lost despite a valiant fight in the men’s singles semifinal of the Macau Grand Prix Gold here today.
The two-time World Championship bronze-medallist, Sindhu, held an all-win 4—0 record against Busanan Ongbumrungpan of Thailand before coming into the match and the Indian kept her record intact by registering her fifth win today.
The second-seeded Indian prevailed over Busanan, seeded eighth, 21—14 21—15 in a 42-minute match at the Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion.
Prannoy, on the other hand, waged a fierce battle but still failed to breach the defence of Wing Ki Wong of Hong Kong, who prevailed 21—16 16—21 21—12 in the match that lasted an hour.
In the women’s singles match, Busanan moved into an early 5—2 lead but she couldn’t keep the pressure on Sindhu and the Indian turned the tables, reaching 13—9 and didn’t allow the Thai girl to claw back to pocket the first game.
In the second game, Sindhu zoomed to 5—1 initially.
Busanan drew parity at 8—8 and 12—12 but once again she was not consistent enough to bother Sindhu.
The duo played aggressive rallies and Busan played some extraordinary shots but it was mostly followed by miscued hits which allowed Sindhu to keep her lead.
Leading 19—15, Sindhu changed the pace of the rallies as Busanan hit the shuttle out and then found the net to hand over the match and the final place to the Indian.
In the men’s singles semifinals, Wong, who had beaten world champion Chen Long at China Open early this month, rode on his better court coverage and strong defence to tame the Indian, not to mention the poor line calls.
In the first game, Prannoy showed agility to lead early on but Wong came back to draw parity at 5—5. The Indian then made some errors allowing Wong to go into the breather 11—7 ahead.
Prannoy tried to return everything that was thrown at him and his follow-ups earned him points and he led 13—11 at one point. But the Indian once again struggled with his judgement of shuttle’s length as Wong led 17—14.