Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu was in a ruthless mood in the quarter-finals of the badminton world championships as she beat world No 6 Sun Yu of China in straight games. Sindhu, the world No 4, needed only 39 minutes to dispatch her Chinese opponent. Sindhu won 21-14, 21-9 to enter the semi-finals at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, which means she is now guaranteed a medal. The 22-year-old has already won two bronze medals previously in this tournament.

Sindhu’s win also means that India has now won a medal in the last five editions of World Championship since 2011 and also the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio Games. The women’s doubles combination of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa helped India bag their first medal in over 28 years in London and Sindhu grabbed the bronze in the 2013 and 14 editions.

Saina Nehwal, who will be in action later in the day against local hope Kristy Gilmour, won the silver in the 2015 edition in Indonesia and Sindhu added to that list on Thursday with a dominating performance against Sun Yu.

True to her unpredictable nature, Sindhu was a polar opposite of herself in the third round, when she was stretched to three games 13th seed Ngan Yi Cheung. Sindu needed 87 minutes to come through a 19-21, 23-21, 21-17 winner and there were doubts as to whether she would recover in time for the crucial quarter-final match.

However, Sindhu was in impeccable form on Friday, while her opponent looked quite nervous across the net. Sun actually led the pair’s head-to-head 4-3 prior to this match, having defeated the Indian in their last meeting in Dubai last December in straight games.

Much unlike her sluggish start to the previous match, Sindhu was up and away right from the beginning against Sun and did not let the Chinese get anywhere near her. She looked relaxed, composed and determined to get through, and used her height advantage to perfection.

Sindhu will take on another Chinese in the semi-finals, Chen Yufei, who dispatched former world No 1 Ratchanok Intanon in their quarter-final match. Sindhu and Chen have faced each other only twice before, winning a match apiece. While all semi-finalists are guaranteed a medal, Sindhu will look to “change the colour” of her medal this time around, as she had stated earlier.

Earlier, Srikanth Kidambi was beaten in the quarters by world No 1 Son Wan Ho, ending India’s challenge from the men’s singles draw.