Ninth-seeded PV Sindhu produced a performance of skill, maturity and composure in beating the World No.2 and 2012 silver-medallist Wang Yihan of China 22-20, 21-19 in a pulsating quarterfinal in Rio on Tuesday. Sindhu is now one win away from a medal in her maiden Olympics appearance.
The first game was characterised by long rallies, with both players making the other move all around the court, but Yihan had sped away to a 3-0 lead before Sindhu could lodge her first point.
Sindhu, though, never let her opponent out of sight, leveling the score at 5-5, and then coming back from 8-12 at one stage to draw level at 13-13. Faced with a 15-17 deficit soon after having taken the lead for the first time at 15-14, she produced two smashes low to either side of Yihan to level the score at 17-17, before bringing up her first game points at 20-18.
Yihan was able to save two of them -- the second producing 46 shots in 45 seconds between the two -- but then Sindhu closed out the first game 22-20 in 29 minutes.
"She showed very good attitude and it is good to see her perform at this stage. Of course there are chances of improvement in terms of a couple of areas, but I think undeniably the way she fought and pulled the strategy through was very good" Sindhu's coach Pullela Gopichand said.
Sindhu started the second game in an aggressive manner, smashing straight towards Yihan's body. Up 4-2, she produced the point of the match when she retrieved the shuttle bending low to her forehand and then recovering in time to produce a firm backhand return that Yihan could only sink into the net.
Sindhu consistently kept a gap between herself and Yihan -- up to five points at one stage -- and was exceptional with her play around the net in particular. Yihan tried to counter Sindhu's positivity with some aggression of her own, but was never able to bridge the gap between herself and the 21-year-old Indian to anything less than two points.
Sindhu was in sight of wrapping the game up at 18-13 before a forehand flick of hers went well wide, and Yihan took full toll to pick up the next four points to draw level for the first time in 34 points. Taking the lead for the first time at 19-18, Yihan was surprised with Sindhu's swift return of her serve, which enforced an error out of the Chinese. Sindhu closed out the match with two assured points to take the second game 21-19 in 24 minutes.
"Sindhu had a good lead in the second but Wang Yihan did well to cover that up but in the end and I think Sindhu stayed calmer and she was resilient enough to finish it up. To feel confident about her defence and then do it at the big points is what made the difference. In my book she can do a notch higher but what we saw today was fantastic" Gopichand said.
Yihan's head-to-head going into this match against Sindhu was 4-2 in her favour, though Sindhu had defeated her 21-18, 21-19 in their last meeting, at the Denmark Open in October 2015.
Yihan had defeated Saina Nehwal in the semifinals of the London Olympics four years ago, before losing to compatriot Li Xuerui in the gold medal match.
Sindhu will now face Nozomi Okuhara of Japan. A win against her will open India's Rio account - even a defeat will give Sindhu a chance to fight for the bronze - but Sindhu herself was grounded.
"All I can say is that I'll give my best. I hope there's more to come," she said. "It was tough today, against the World No.2. She played well in both games, especially the second to tie the scores at 18-18. I can't say that I got lucky with the win, since she also played brilliantly.
"I've played Yihan many times before, winning some, and losing some. I just try to give my best on the day, because it's always a tough game."
The first semifinal on Thursday will feature Carolina Marin of Spain and Xuerui, following which Sindhu will play her semifinal against World No. 6 Nozomi Okuhara from Japan at 5:50 pm IST.
India's Kidambi Srikanth is scheduled to play his men's singles quarterfinal against World No. 3 Lin Dan of China on Wednesday at 5:50 pm IST.