Defending champion PV Sindhu stormed into the women's singles quarterfinals of the BWF World Championships with a straight-game win over Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand in Huelva, Spain on Thursday. (More Badminton News)
The world number 7 Indian defeated her Thai opponent, ranked three places below her, 21-14 21-18 in the pre-quarterfinal match that lasted 48 minutes.
With the win, Sindhu, seeded sixth in the showpiece tournament, extended her head-to-head record against Chochuwong to 5-3.
Sindhu also avenged her twin loss to Chochuwong this season -- group match of BWF World Tour Finals earlier this month and All England Championships in March.
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The double Olympic medallist Sindhu faces top seed and world number one Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, who beat Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland 21-10 19-21 21-11, in the quarterfinals.
Sindhu took an early 5-1 lead but Chochuwong rallied to narrow the gap to 5-4 and then to 10-9. The Indian zoomed ahead from there on as she made it 15-10 and then 19-11 to pocket the first game.
The second game was a tighter affair though Sindhu began on the front foot with a 3-0 lead. Sindhu led 11-6 at the change of ends and the second half saw some long rallies with the Thai player winning a few of them.
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Sindhu was leading 16-10 but Chochuwong made a comeback of sort as she reduced the gap to 18-15 and then to 19-18.
Sindhu won a crucial point after a long rally to make it 20-18 before winning the second game and the match.
Sindhu, who got a first round bye, had beaten Slovakia's Martina Repiska 21-7 21-9 in the second round on Tuesday.
