Sindhu beats Chiu Pin-chian in 39 minutes to reach French Open semi-finals; she is India’s last player in Paris

PV Sindhu is into the women’s singles semi-finals of the French Open Super 750 in Paris. On 23 October she beat Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Pin-chian 21-13, 21-14 in the quarter-final, and the match took 39 minutes.

Sindhu, who is from Hyderabad, led 11-5 at the interval in the first game. In the second she went 7-0 up early and stayed in control to the end. Chiu is ranked 17th in the world. It was Sindhu’s second win over her, after the Asian Games.

Ashmita Chaliha, the other Indian in the singles quarter-finals, lost to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara earlier on 23 October, which leaves Sindhu as India’s only contender at the Arena Grand Paris. Her semi-final on 24 October is against Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani or Japan’s Hina Akechi.