PV Sindhu was defeated 21-11, 21-12 in the quarterfinals of the 2021 BWF Denmark Open Super 1000 against South Korea's An Se Young in Odense on Friday.
In the first game, after a brief exchange of points, An pulled away from Sindhu with a series of quick winners which saw her go into the break 11-4 ahead. An's defence caused Sindhu all sorts of trouble, forcing the reigning world champion into multiple errors as the game wore on.
Sindhu started more authoritatively in the second game, and although An took an early 5-2 lead, Sindhu smashed her way back to 6-7 with some aggressive back-court play. An, though, held on to take a narrow 11-8 lead into the break. After that, An went on the front foot, powering cross-court smashes as she seized control of the game, and the match. She went on a run of seven consecutive points where she stretched the lead to 18-8. An then closed the game out with the minimum of fuss, winning it 21-12. The match lasted a little past half an hour.
This was Sindhu's first tournament in two months, while An had played in the Sudirman and Uber Cups over the past month.
Sindhu had earlier beaten Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-16, 12-21, 21-15 while An had had a relatively more comfortable route to the quarters as she had beaten Russia's Evgeniya Kosteskaya 21-9, 21-11 in the second round.
India's Sameer Verma is in action in the men's quarterfinals of the tournament later on Friday -- he takes on Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto.