Korea Open: Sindhu goes down to An Seyoung in semis

TIL Desk Sports/ P V Sindhu suffered her fourth successive defeat to the young An Seyoung as she signed off her women’s singles campaign at the semi-final stage of the Korea Open Super 500 badminton tournament in Suncheon on Saturday. The third seeded Indian tried everything at her disposal but couldn’t find a way to get past the world No. 4 Korean and went down 14-21, 17-21 in 48 minutes.

The 20-year-old An Seyoung gave ample display of her athleticism with diving returns to keep the rallies alive and did not falter in her precision, leaving Sindhu to do the catch-up job from the start.  The second seeded Korean rode on her superb retrieving skills to gallop to a 6-1 lead early on. Then she dived twice in quick succession on both flanks to blunt Sindhu’s attack and sealed it with a delightful drop.

Two powerful returns took Sindhu to 4-7 but An Seyoung came up with two precise returns, a body blow and then produced another over-the-head return to gain a healthy 11-6 lead at the break. Sindhu tried to step up the pace but An Seyoung displayed a wide array of shots to always stay a step ahead. The Indian got a few points with her smashes but couldn’t put pressure on the Korean.