All England Open Badminton: PV Sindhu exits in the semifinal

India's ace female shuttler PV Sindhu's dream to reach the final remained elusive as she lost to Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong 17-21, 9-21 in the semifinal of the All England Open Badminton Championships on Saturday at Arena Birmingham in England.

Sindhu clearly went as the favourite to win the draw going by their previous head-to-head record with Sindhu having a 4-1 lead.

Chochuwong began the service in the first game and quickly secured a point following Sindhu's error. Sindhu recovered soon making the lead to 3-1. Sindhu capitalised with an impressive judgement as Chochuwong trailed 3-4 and found three quick points to make it 6-4. Sindhu, trailed 6-11 at the breather. The Thai showed excellent composure to return Sindhu's smashes in a 35-shot longest rally to secure a point and leading 12-6. Sindhu broke at 7-13 but Chcochuwong was sharp with her deceives and went took advantage of her agility. Three consecutive errors by the Thai handed Sindhu points to a four-point deficiency at 10-14 and to 12-15. The errors kept Chochuwong costing points as Sindhu closed in at 13-15. A well-timed smash in the right corner earned Chochuwong the service break gave her an edge to 17-13. Sindhu's immaculate serves in the corners deceived the Thai as she closed in at 16-17. However, CHochuwong recovered soon to earn four-game points and she finished off 21-17.

The second game started with Chochuwong leading with her powerful smashes at 4-1. She further kept Sindhu at bay by playing an effective counter-attack and shots across the court at 9-3. Chochuwong dominated the course as Sindhu looked fatigued returning her shots. The lead extended to 10-4, when Sindhu found a break. Chochuwong headed the breather with a seven-point lead at 11-4. The Thai went on extending her lead to 15-6. Chcochuwong had 11 match points as Sindhu looked lacklustre in the second game losing 9-21.

Sindhu looked too much fatigued after she defeated the third seed, Akane Yamaguchi, in the quarterfinals in a match that lasted 76 minutes. Despite winning the first game, Yamaguchi found herself on the losing side by a 21-16, 16-21, 19-21 scoreline.

The sixth seed Chochuwong defeated Zhang Beiwen of USA in straight games 21-16, 21-19 on Friday in her quarterfinal match.