P. V. Sindhu slays Li Xuerui to shake China’s domination at Li Ning China Masters 2012
India’s talented player P. V. Sindhu surprised everyone by creating the biggest upset of the tournament when she defeated the reigning Olympic Champion Li Xuerui of China in Women’s Singles quarter-final contest at the Li Ning China Masters 2012 on Friday,
September 14, in China.
It was the most relishing victory in Sindhu’s professional career as she proved her mettle on court and overpowered the in-form Xuerui who is currently placed at number two in Women’s Singles world ranking.
The Indian shuttler defied all odds in the quarter-final battle and delivered a stunning performance which will long be remembered considering that the higher ranked Chinese player had to bite the dust in her home ground and in front of her home crowd.
All credit goes to the remarkable performance of Sindhu who remained calm and composed on court throughout the battle, showing no emotions even when she committed mistakes. She was confident throughout the contest and finished off the match in three games
by taking 45 minutes on the court.
Many expected that it to be a one-sided contest as Xuerui was in form player and had lost just one fight in her last 39 matches since February this year before facing Sindhu at the top-eight stage.
Chinese shuttler tried her level best but failed to overpower her spirited Indian challenger and went down with a considerable margin.
In the opening game, Sindhu played terrific badminton as she did not show any sign of confusion while playing against the higher ranked Chinese player and remained successful in taking the set with a 21-19 score on the board.
The following set was quite different as Xuerui showed her class and dictated the pace of rallies from opening points.
Sindhu failed to control the game this time as she committed many un-forced errors and eventually lost the set with a huge margin of 9-21.
However, in the deciding set, Sindhu registered her supremacy on court as she remained in lead in the opening half and also continued her remarkable performance in the concluding phase to end up the set with a 21-16 margin on the board.
The impressive Sindhu sent Xuerui packing at quarter-final stage in three games with a superb difference of 21-19, 9-21 and 21-16.
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