Remember, if Saina Nehwal wins her respective quarter-final later in the day today, we can have a mouthwatering SAINA VS SINDHU semi-final!!!! The winner of that contest will then secure the eighth spot in the prestigious DUBAI World Superseries Finals scheduled to be held next month!!
Final score: 21-17, 21-23, 21-18
This was the Indian's EIGHTH win a row AFTER WINNING THE CHINA OPEN LAST WEEK!!!!!!
PV IS THROUGH TO THE SEMI-FINALS!!!!!!!
And Sindhu WINS IT!!!!!
With the World No. 32 now looking weary, Sindhu has jumped to 20-18 with two match points in hand!
And she follows it up with a quick point for 19-18
An extremely long and gritty rally ends with Sindhu taking the point and making it 18-18
Liang has taken a slender lead here for 18-17
Towards the business end, with both women giving their all, the game is now evenly poised at 17-17
Finally, Liang stops the run of points and makes it 16-16
Sindhu has now even taken the lead for 16-15
And it is all square - 15-15 WOW!
And it is 14-15. The Sindhu COMEBACK is TRULY ON!!!!!
Sindhu has now made it to within 2 points of her opponent at 13-15
And it is a three-point gap at 12-15
Sindhu has now closed the gap to just four points - 11-15
Sindhu has now taken 2 points for 9-14. Is she coming back?
Liang is indeed in the driver's seat now having inched ahead 14-7
Shall we be able to see a spectacular turnaround from the Indian? Time, however, is running out and Sindhu needs to hurry if she wants a win here!
The five-point gap continues even after the break and Sindhu now trails 7-12
Is there any hint of tiredness from the Indian? Remember, she has been playing non-stop for 2 weeks in a row and is on a seven-match winning streak!
Currently, she needs to be reminded about her fiery spirit and courage as she is trailing 6-11 at half-time.
But don't count Sindhu out! The tigress in her can show up any time to surprise her opponent and we have seen it happen many times before!
Liang's determination and persistence are reaping the rewards here. She has managed to steer the game her way to surge to 8-5
Credit to the Singaporean for not being intimidated by her opponent and always managing to hang on.
The Indian raced ahead to 4-1 before seeing her advantage vanishing for 4-4
Game 3
The Indian starts with an aggressive mindset and builds a 3-1 lead
WHAT Sindhu needs to do?
She has to widen the gap between her and Liang right from the start of the decider.
And she INDEED is!!!! What a spirited show from the Singaporean to snatch the second game, 23-21
And in a repeat, it is Liang yet again with a third game point at 22-21. Can she be third time lucky?
The FIGHTER Sindhu is here again!! She once more saves the game point for 21-21
What a THRILLING game going on!!! The Singaporean now has a second game point at 21-20
The Indian puts up a superb show to save the game point and level at 20-20
And the Singaporean even has a game point at 20-19
And just like before, the resilient Liang comes back for 19-19
Sindhu's improved defense is shining bright here. Under the gun, she eked out a hard-fought point to go up 19-18.
This is the business end of the game and the Indian needs to be careful not to leak any error.
Her persistence pays off and the game is back on level terms at 18-18
But Liang has not given up and she keeps cutting down the Indian's lead. She is now trailing 16-18.
Sindhu keeps on soaring higher and higher. With tremendous footwork and admirable fighting spirit, she has created quite a gap between her and Liang at 17-13
But this is where the China Open champion is looking good. Confident and aggressive, she has broken free from the tie to surge ahead 15-12
The game continues in the same fashion even after the break. Sindhu went up 12-10 but the Singaporean once more erased her advantage to tie the score 12-12
At the mid-game interval, the lead goes back to PV Sindhu at 11-10, who came back from 9-10 down to take the next couple of points.
With both putting up an extremely determined display, it is not a surprise that the game is now evenly poised at 9-9
The lead keeps on rotating between the two and it is now Sindhu who has grabbed it for 7-6
This is a great display of aggression from the Singaporean shuttler who has now regained the lead for 5-3.
It's a hard-fought affair now with the two locked at 3-3
GAME 2
If Liang still wants to come back, she needs to be careful not to concede early string of errors. And she has started with a positive mindset and now leads Sindhu 2-0.
That's all for now, friends. Hope you enjoyed our live coverage. We shall be back at 4pm IST with the live coverage of Saina Nehwal's match. Till then, Au revoir!