Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu entered the quarter-finals of the China Open with an enthralling win over Beiwen Zhang of the United States in Fuzhou on Thursday. Ajay Jayaram also registered a place in the last eight, rallying from a game down to beat Hong Kong’s Wei Nan 20-22, 21-19, 21-12 in a match that lasted close to an hour.
The Olympian fought her way back from a game down to emerge victorious with an 18-21, 22-20, 21-17 scoreline. Sindhu will play the unseeded Bingjiao He of China in the quarters.
Sindhu had a 2-0 win-loss record against Zhang, but that was in danger on Thursday as Zhang began her game with an aggressive approach. They clashed twice in 2011 and on both occasions, Sindhu was stretched to three games.
Sindhu lost the first game 21-18, which saw both players making errors at crucial moments of the game. The second game went all the way down to the wire with Sindhu pulling off a spectacular point to win 22-20. The decider saw the Olympic silver medallist gain early momentum and stretch her lead to 16-12. She eventually went on to win the game and match 21-17.
Jayaram and Wei Nan played out a tense battle with the momentum ebbing back and forth throughout the first two games. After narrowly losing the first game, the Chennai-based shutter lost ground early in the second game, trailing 2-6. However, Jayaram fought back admirably to draw level at 9-9, and took the game with a spree of points, picking up five on the trot at one stage.
The deciding game saw Jayaram steal a march early on with a handsome 7-3 lead and sealed the contest with ease. The 29-year-old does have his task cut out in the quarters, though, as he lines up to face Olympic gold medallist and two-time world champion Chen Long of China.