Sindhu advances, Nehwal crashes out of Hong Kong Open

Kowloon [Hong Kong], Nov.25 (ANI): Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu continued her rich vein of form as she swept aside Xiaoyu Liang of Singapore to book her place in the semi-finals of the ongoing Hong Kong Open Super Series here on Friday. After comfortably winning the first game, the Rio Olympics silver-medallist went down in second before she bounced back strongly to register a 21-17, 21-23, 21-18 win over her Singaporean opponent in the last eight contest of the women's singles event that lasted one hour and 19 minutes. Meanwhile, fifth-seed Saina Nehwal, who remained sidelined for about two and a half months due to a knee injury, suffered a major blow as she crashed out of the tournament after going down 8-21, 21-18, 19-21 at the hands of Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong in her quarter-final clash. Sindhu will now lock horns with Ngan Yi for a place in the summit showdown. Earlier this month, Sindhu clinched her maiden Super Series Premier title after edging out China's Sun Yu in the final of the USD 700,000 China Open badminton tournament. Nehwal, on the other hand, yet to win a title since making a comeback to international arena after undergoing surgery of her right knee following Rio Olympic 2016.(ANI)