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The All England Open title continues to elude PV Sindhu as she crashed out of the prestigious Super 1000 tournament in Birmingham on Saturday.
The Indian star was a pale shadow of herself, as she succumbed to a 17-21, 9-21 defeat against world no. 11 Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand. With Sindhu's loss, the Indian campaign has come to an end at the All England Open 2021.
This marked the second time PV Sindhu bowed out of the All England Open in the last-four stage; three years ago, she lost in the semi-finals to Akane Yamaguchi. The world champion has never made it to the final of the world's oldest badminton tournament.
PV Sindhu fails to recover from her marathon quarter-final win over Yamaguchi
The effects of last night's marathon 16-21, 21-16, 21-19 quarter-final win against the third-seeded Yamaguchi were visible, as the Rio Olympic silver medallist looked lethargic against Chochuwong.
With her quarter-final lasting 1 hour 16 minutes, PV Sindhu hardly had anything left in the tank to face her Thai opponent in the semis.
The fifth seed didn't look like the same player who had bested Chochuwong 21-18, 21-15 in their previous meeting in January.
The former World Junior Championships silver medallist made a confident start to open up a 12-6 lead in the first game. Despite a brief fightback from PV Sindhu that saw her close the gap to four points at 16-20, Chochuwong recovered to pocket the opener 21-17.
The second game was thoroughly dominated by the sixth seed as she didn't give PV Sindhu any opening at all. From 4-3, Chochuwong surged to an 11-4 lead, riding on a superb show of power and poise.
The 23-year-old maintained her lead and didn't allow PV Sindhu the chance to come back. After inching ahead 18-8, she let PV Sindhu win only one point before closing out the match in 45 minutes.
In the summit clash, Pornpawee Chochuwong will meet the winner of the other semi-final between second seed Nozomi Okuhara and fourth seed Ratchanok Intanon.
Despite her defeat, PV Sindhu has had a highly encouraging European swing. After finishing runner-up to Carolina Marin at the Swiss Open, the world no. 7 beat her nemesis Akane Yamaguchi to reach the All England Open semis, which will surely boost her confidence ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
