India's PV Sindhu fought her heart out before going down narrowly to Thailand's Supanida Katethong in the women's singles quarterfinals of the Madrid Spain Masters Super 300 badminton tournament on Friday.
Sindhu, who had finished runner-up in 2023, recovered from an early 4-8 deficit and saved multiple game points to grab the opening game, but she couldn't go the distance as the sixth seeded Thai registered a 24-26 21-17 22-20 win after a see-saw battle.
The two-time Olympic medallist, who was a favourite to win after the withdrawal of Spain Carolina Marin, lost her cool in the end, as she smashed her racquet on the court. She received a yellow card from the chair umpire.
A yellow card is just a warning for misconduct.
However, India's husband-wife combo of N Sikki Reddy and B Sumeeth Reddy had a lot to cheer about as they notched up a 14-21 21-11 21-17 win over Indonesia's fourth seed Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Lisa Ayu Kusumawati to enter the mixed doubles semifinals.
The women's doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, seeded third, lost 13-21 19-21 to sixth seeded Chinese Taipei's Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun in the quarterfinals.
Sindhu had a 5-3 record against the world no. 17 Supanida with the two having played some exciting matches in the last two years.
It was as much a physical battle as of skills for Sindhu, who didn't face much resistance in the initial rounds.
The start was slow for Sindhu as she found herself 3-7 behind at one stage but she rallied to pocket a three-point advantage with a body smash and a fine net shot.
The rallies started getting tighter after resumption as Sindhu kept ahead at 14-10, but thereafter, momentum kept changing with Supanida grabbing two game points when Sindhu found the net.
However, Sindhu unleashed two timely smashes to draw level. The Indian sent one long before producing a body smash as it was 21-21. Sindhu grabbed a game point when Supanida erred during a net dribble but she wasted it with a net error.
Sindhu's net error was cancelled with Supanida missing the backline and it was 23-23 next. The Thai grabbed another game point by pushing one to the back but sent a forehand to net next as it was 24-24.
An excruciating rally ended with Supanida sending one wide as Sindhu had another advantage and this time the Thai again faltered at the net as the Indian pumped her fist.
The change of ends didn't lower the intensity as the two fought tooth and nail during some exciting rallies till Sindhu opened up a 10-8 lead.
However, Supanida was quick to grab three points to enter the break with a three-point cushion.
As the match wore on, Sindhu looked a bit tired as Supanida made her run with angled returns and extended the rallies. Two power-packed smashes helped Sindhu to make it 17-18.
With two steep returns on her rival's body, Supanida took three game points and roared back into the contest, when Sindhu dumped another one at the net.
In the decider, Sindhu recovered to take a 10-5 lead but she let it slip as Supanida reeled off five points to go 14-12 up and then grabbed five match points.
A rearguard action from Sindhu, which included two cross court and a straight smash, conjured up hopes of another reversal as she drew parity at 20-20, but two unforced errors from the Indian dashed her hopes.