French Open: Sindhu, Saina out; Satwik-Chirag enter semis

TIL Desk Sports/ Ace Indian women shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal bowed out of the ongoing French Open badminton tournament after losing their respective quarter-final matches. Newly crowned World Champion Sindhu lost to World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying 21-16, 24-26, 21-17 in an intense last-eight match which lasted for 75 minutes on Friday night.

It was a fierce battle between the two ace shuttlers as long rallies, jaw-dropping drops and never-say-die attitude were on display in a gruelling quarter-final clash at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin. Earlier, Saina’s campaign in the Super 750 tournament came to an end after she lost her quarter-final clash to South Korean teenager An Se Young.

 In a contest that lasted for almost 50 minutes, the 17-year-old from Korea defeated Saina 22-20, 23-21 to enter the semis of the competition. However, there was good news for India’s top-ranked men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty who continued with their imperious form and shocked Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen to enter the semi-finals.