Sindhu, Sameer in semis of BWF World Tour Finals

GUANGZHOU:OLYMPIC silver medallist PV Sindhu continued her unbeaten run while debutant Sameer Verma also qualified for the knockout stage with a straight-game win in his last group B match at the BWF World Tour Finals, here on Friday.

Playing her third successive year-ending finale, Sindhu dished out some fine strokes and showed precision during the 35-minute contest to prevail over world No 12 Beiwen Zhang 21-9, 21-15 in a one-sided women’s singles contest to top Group A.

“I was down 2-6 initially but I picked up the lead, so after that I was fine,” Sindhu, the last edition’s runner-up, said after clinching her third win in as many matches.

“I’ve played a few games against her after the Indian Open final, so I took it as a fresh match. I am happy with the three wins, it is a positive thing. I hope to move forward with the same positivity and do well in the semi-finals,” she went on to add.

On the adjacent court, Sameer showed great athleticism and produced a masterful performance to demolish Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-9, 21-18 in 44 minutes.

After losing the opening match to world No 1 and world champion Kento Momota, Sameer recovered well to come up trumps against his other two opponents in Group B.

“I have played him before at Swiss Open so I knew how to go about it. In the second game I was losing so after some advice from my coach, I kept my patience and now I am ready to play the semifinals,” said Sameer. “It has been a great experience playing my first world tour finals.”

In the women’s singles, Sindhu, who had stunned world No 1 Tai Tzu Ying in her previous match, didn’t make a good start against Zhang, conceding a 0-4 lead early on.

But she clawed back at 6-6 after producing some angled returns, which included a a delightful over-the head-cross court return.

The world No 6 Indian kept the pressure and eked out a threepoint advantage at the break after Zhang hit out.

Zhang tried to put the shuttle in difficult positions but Sindhu not only retrieved the shuttle but also produced some precise returns to extend her lead to 17-8.

The Hong Kong-born US shuttler unleashed a cross court smash to break the run of points but Sindhu reciprocated with an equally superb smash. She eventually got game point when Zhang hit the net.

The Indian sealed the opening game comfortably in 15 minutes before dominating throughout the next to pocket the victory.