Hong Kong Super Series: PV Sindhu beats Akane Yamaguchi, marches into semis

Hong Kong: India's ace shuttler PV Sindhu entered the semifinals of women's singles of Hong Kong Open SuperSeries after posting a straight-game win over Akane Yamaguchi of Japan here on Sunday.

Second seed Sindhu got the better of the Japanese fifth seed 21-12 21-19 in a contest that lasted 36 minutes. The Rio Olympic silver medallist will face Ratchanok Intanon in the last-four round. Sindhu, who has slipped a place to be number three in the world rankings, had an easy opening game as she dominated completely from the beginning till the end.

In the second game, the Japanese girl gave a tough fight to Sindhu. After being tied 8-8, Yamaguchi surged ahead to 14-8 at one stage. But the Indian remained clam and slowly clawed her way back into the game, managing to catch up with her Japanese rival at 18-18.

Sindhu was then quick to grab the next two points to take a 20-18 lead and wrapped up the match in style.