Gutsy Zhang claims India Open

At 20-19 in the decider, Sindhu’s net shot did not cross the net. But she missed it by hitting the net.

After the break, Zhang reduced the gap to four points and made it 8-12, before Sindhu came up with back-to-back body smashes to stop the trend. PVSindhu remained in hunt to defend her title by reaching the women’s singles semifinals but Saina Nehwalwas knocked out of the India Open. At New Delhi’s Siri Fort Indoor Stadium, which was packed to the rafters, PV Sindhu avenged her Olympic final defeat at the hands of Carolina Marin. But she kept telling herself, “Don’t take pressure”, as she revealed later. She fired a victor on the left and then Sindhu netted one before putting one out to concede three points on the trot. Zhang, who is China born, lives in Las Vegas and regularly trains in Singapore, said the victory was the biggest moment of her career. Some part of my defence I am not happy with. “He is also a lot younger than me”, he said.

At this point, Shi Yuqi enjoyed his best phase and won five points on the trot.

On being asked if she missed that extra set of eyes during matches, Zhang coyly replied that by now she has learned to deal.

True to Zhang’s words, if anyone looked under any pressure in the final, it was Sindhu.

Then video referral came to Beiwen’s rescue. Attack was Sindhu’s hashtag against the former world champion from Thailand as she opened up a 12-point lead in the first game.

Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap seemed a bit exhausted and could not match China’s Qiao Bin, losing 16-21 18-21 in the men’s singles quarterfinals. But in a departure from the previous cliff-hangers, the Indian shuttler actually held a match point before going down 21-18, 11-21, 22-20.

In the pair events, Indonesians Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon completed a hat-trick of India Open titles with a straight-games win over Dane’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, while their compatriots Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu clinched the women’s doubles crown. Sindhu will face 2013 world champion and world no.3 Thai Ratchanok Inthanon in the next match.

That let her revive a bit in the game as the American reduced the gap to be 13-10 at one stage. The American grabbed another point to again open up a two point lead, before leading 19-16. Sindhu raced ahead for a while to take a 11-9 lead at the mid-game break.

Sindhu carried on the momentum to lead 2-0. The Danish combo zoomed to a 8-3 lead but the Indian duo narrowed the deficit to 9-11 at the breather.