Reigning champion PV Sindhu marched on at the BWF World Championships 2021 with a dominant display on Thursday as she defeated 9th seed Pornpawee Chochuwang in the women’s singles Round of 16 at the Carolina Marin Stadium in Huelva, Spain. The 6th seeded Indian needed 48 minutes to beat her Thai opponent 21-14, 21-18 and progress to the quarter-finals of the premier world event.

PV Sindhu came up with a nearly flawless performance as she ended her 2-match losing streak against Chochuwong, who has evolved into one of the top shuttles in the women’s singles circuit this season. Sindhu had lost to the Thai star at the All England Open and the World Tour Finals earlier this year but the Indian shutter found ways to negate the threat from Chochuwong on Thursday.

Sindhu also maintained the record of not losing before the quarters at the world championships, eyeing a record-breaking 6th medal at the premier world event.

Sindhu will face World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarter-final of the BWF World Championships on Friday. Notably, Sindhu has a poor 5-14 record against the Taiwanese with her last win coming in 2019. Tai came back from behind on Thursday as she defeated Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland 21-10, 19-21, 21-11 in their Round of 16 meeting.

Sindhu took an early 5-1 lead but Chochuwong rallied to narrow the gap to 5-4 and then to 10-9. The Indian zoomed ahead from there on as she made it 15-10 and then 19-11 to pocket the first game.

The second game was a tighter affair though Sindhu began on the front foot with a 3-0 lead. Sindhu led 11-6 at the change of ends and the second half saw some long rallies with the Thai player winning a few of them.

Sindhu was leading 16-10 but Chochuwong made a comeback of sort as she reduced the gap to 18-15 and then to 19-18.

Sindhu won a crucial point after a long rally to make it 20-18 before winning the second game and the match.

Sindhu, who got a first round bye, had beaten Slovakia’s Martina Repiska 21-7 21-9 in the second round on Tuesday.