Guangzhou: Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu continued her unbeaten run while debutant Sameer Verma also qualified for the knockout stage with a straight-game win in his last group B match at the BWF World Tour Finals, here Friday.
Playing her third successive year-ending finale, Sindhu dished out some deceptive strokes and showed precision during the 35-minute contest to prevail over World No.12 Beiwen Zhang 21-9, 21-15 in a one-sided women’s singles contest to top Group A
On the adjacent court, 24-year-old Sameer showed great athleticism and produced a masterful performance to demolish Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-9, 21-18 in a match that clocked 44 minutes.
After losing the opening match to World No.1 and World Champion Kento Momota, Sameer, who qualified for the tournament after defending his title at Syed Modi International last month, recovered well to come up trumps against his other two opponents in Group B.
In the women’s singles, Sindhu, who had stunned World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying in her previous match, didn’t make a good start against Zhang, conceding a 0-4 lead early on. But she clawed back at 6-6 after producing some angled returns, which included a delightful over-the head-cross court return. The World No.6 Indian kept the pressure and eked out a three-point advantage at the break after Zhang hit out. Zhang tried to put the shuttle in difficult positions but Sindhu not only retrieved the shuttle but also produced some precise returns to extend her lead to 17-8.