It was another great chapter in the book of rivalry between PV Sindhu and Akane Yamaguchi in the quarterfinal of the women’s singles event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The match that lasted around an hour saw the Indian come out victorious 21-13, 22-20.

In the head-to-head battle, Sindhu has been dominant winning 11 of their 18 encounters. Yamaguchi, who was seeded 4th at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, has won the last 3 of the four meetings against the Indian.

Sindhu, after her first couple of matches, said that the tournament will be seeing a new Sindhu, a dominant Sindhu and that is what we saw exactly. The Olympic silver-medallist started strong against her familiar foe and didn’t hold back.

In the first game, Yamaguchi got the first point and the battle started. Initially, it seemed that both the players were testing each other out. And steadily, Sindhu upped the ante and dished out her A-game to counter Yamaguchi and her skills.

They were 6-6 at one time, but then Sindhu got a couple of points to be in the lead at the break. After the break, Sindhu was all over Yamaguchi with her cross-court smashes and beautiful net play. The seed 4 was seen diving around the court, attempting to send the shuttle back to Sindhu but did was not successful at most times.

It was an aggressive Sindhu as she brought down Yamaguchi on her knees, literally with long balls and then swiftly converting it to drop shots. At times, Sindhu’s smashes were just too hot to handle as the Japanese could not return it.

The first game lasted 23 minutes and saw Sindhu won 21-13.

In the second game, Yamaguchi put up a spirited fight and did not let go off points easily, going neck and neck with Sindhu. However, the Indian managed to eke out a narrow lead at the interval. At 15-15, both players looked tired and Yamaguchi, with two quick points, threatened to take the second game. Long rally, cracking smashes, long ball, drop shots, the second game saw it all in the last five points.

Sindhu’s aggression just grew and grew as Yamaguchi struggled to counter. A lot of unforced errors by Yamaguchi saw Sindhu win important points. At 20-18, Yamaguchi had two game points, but Sindhu wasn’t giving in. After a long rally, both players were seen huffing and puffing, showing what this stage means to them.

Sindhu, who had issues with her stamina, conquered her demons, and got four consecutive points, helped by some unfroced errors by Yamaguchi as she won the second game and the match.

She let out a huge cry as the local favourite hit the ball at the net, giving the silver medallist a victory.