Sindhu crashes out of Australian Open

Sydney: Indian star P.V. Sindhu was knocked out of the $750,000 Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament following a tough quarter-final battle with World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei here on Friday. Sindhu won the first game before Tai staged a strong comeback to register a 10-21, 22-20, 21-16 verdict in the women's singles clash which lasted for about an hour. The top seeded Tai improved her head to head record against World No.4 Sindhu to 7-3. In the opening game, Tai had no response to Sindhu's smashes as the Rio Olympics silver medallist dominated the proceedings to pocket it easily. Tai, however, made a strong comeback in the second game, taking a 4-1 lead, before Sindhu clawed her way back to 8-8. It was a neck and neck battle at that time, and Sindhu then took a 13-10 lead, before Tai won four points on the trot to take a 14-13 lead which she extended further to 18-14. Sindhu made a critical error at that stage where she allowed Tai to save the match point, and take the game into the decider with a 22-20 win. The final game was again a close contest with both players trying to outwit each other. While Sindhu raced to a 14-10 lead, Tai kept her nerves to stage a comeback and make it 15-15. Towards the end, the Chinese Taipei shuttler played her A game to pocket the game 21-16.