NEW DELHI: China’s Chen Yufei staged a remarkable comeback to beat India’s PV Sindhu 16-21, 22-20, 21-18 on Thursday and enter the quarterfinals of China Open 2026.
Sindhu had four match points in the second game before Chen rallied back to force a decider. In the final game, the Indian shuttler held the initial advantage until Chen rushed ahead in the final stretch to close off the tie.
Indian youngster Ayush Shetty’s run too came to an end in the last 16 after he conceded a one-game advantage to go down 21-15, 13-21, 20-22 to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen.
World No. 28 Shetty looked to have recovered after losing the second game, taking a 19-15 lead in the decider, but could not put his opponent away from that position.
India’s contention at the tournament came to end later in the day as Lakshya Sen lost 19-21, 11-21 against Canada’s Victor Lai.
Earlier, the fourth-seeded Chen dominated early proceedings as she raced off to a 12-6 lead in the opening game. But Sindhu rallied back into the contest, drawing level at 16-16 before pulling clear with a superb finishing kick to win the first game 21-16.
The Indian shuttler continued to control the tie and had a chance to close it off after gaining four match points at 20-17 in the second game. But now it was the turn of Chen to mount a comeback as she reeled in five consecutive points to set up a decider where she prevailed.
Chen, who had won the 2020 Olympic gold, will now face the winner of the clash between Ratchanok Intanon and Nguyn Thùy Linh in the quarterfinal. Agencies
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