Taiwan's Tai ousts India's ace at Yonex French Open

Taipei, Oct. 26 (CNA) World No. 1 womens' singles badminton player Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) of Taiwan beat India's top-ranked women's shuttler Pusarla V. Sindhu on Friday to advance to the women's singles semifinals at Yonex Internationaux de France de Badminton in Paris.

The victory enjoyed by Tai was perceived as her efforts to shed her shame of losing to the Indian rival in Switzerland in August, failing to reach the semifinals of the women's singles at the 2019 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships.

At the Yonex French Open, Tai and Sindhu competed with each other in a fiercely-fought match with the Taiwanese player winning the one hour and 15-minute match 21-16, 24-26, 21-17 at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin.

Tai and Sindhu, who ranks as the world's No. 6, entered the first game of the match with an intensive competition 17-16 before the 25-year-old Tai took control of the game at a critical moment to pick up an additional four points, beating Sindhu 21-16.

Both were in a similarly intensive second game but with more action to tie with each other 11-11 at one point before Sindhu came up with an effort to force a decider to keep trading points, finally clinching 26-24 to beat Tai.

Tai started the final game on the front foot, managed to hit the shuttle over the tall frame of Sindhu and yet still kept it within bounds to take the lead by six points during one part of the game. In the end, Tai beat Sindhu in the deciding game, 24-26, to vault herself to the semi-finals.

The win at the Yonex French Open, which began on Tuesday and will run through Sunday, allowed Tai to bring an end to a 2-match losing streak against the Indian ace, including a lost at the August 2019 BWF World Championships.

Before Saturday's match at the Yonex French Open, Tai and Sindhu met in 15 competitions, with the Taiwanese shutter grasping 10 victories.

Tai took the champion title at the Yonex French Open in 2017 before grabbing the second place at the same tournament in 2018. She advanced to the semifinals at the Yonex French Open for a third consecutive year in 2019.

Tai is scheduled to compete with Spanish favorite Carolina Marin at the semifinals. In past games, Tai scored seven victories and suffered five defeats to Marin. In a recent meeting, Martin won the BWF Victor China Open Super 1000 in September by defeating Tai in the finals with a score of 14-21, 21-17, 21-18.

Earlier this month, Tai defended her title at the Denmark Open, defeating her Japanese opponent -- third-seeded world No. 4 Nozomi Okuhara -- in straight games.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Su Ching-heng (蘇敬恆) and Liao Min-chun (廖敏竣) upset Japanese rivals Keigo Sonoda and Takeshi Kamura in a surprise victory 21-14, 21-15 on Friday to advance to the men's doubles semifinals at the Yonex French Open.

On Saturday, Su and Liao will meet with the world's No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia.

Hsu Ya-ching (許雅晴) and Hu Ling-fang (胡綾芳) of Taiwan lost to Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota 11-21 and 7-21 Friday, failing to advance to the women's doubles semifinals.

The Yonex French Open 2019, which carried a total purse of US$750,000, is part of the BWF World Tour Super 750.