Pontianak, 04 September (H.S.): India’s top-seeded and world No. 38 Ashmita Chaliha suffered a quarter-final defeat at the Indonesia Masters Super 100, losing to China’s world No. 81 Xu Wenjing on Friday. Xu Wenjing defeated Chaliha 21-10, 21-18 to book her place in the semi-finals.

In the opening game, the two players remained level at 3-3 and 5-5 during the early stages. Xu Wenjing then strung together a series of points to establish an 8-5 lead. The Chinese shuttler was ahead 11-7 at the interval and continued to strengthen her advantage after the break. Xu Wenjing moved ahead 17-9 and then 20-9 before wrapping up the game 21-10.

Xu Wenjing made another fast start in the second game, moving ahead from 1-1 to take a 6-1 lead. Chaliha attempted to fight back and reduced the deficit to 6-3, but the Chinese player immediately extended her advantage to 8-3 and led 11-5 at the interval.

After the break, Chaliha mounted an impressive comeback, winning four consecutive points to narrow the gap to 9-11. She continued to battle and brought the score to 15-17. However, Xu Wenjing remained composed under pressure and regained control to move 19-15 ahead.

Chaliha launched another comeback attempt to make it 18-19, but Xu Wenjing earned match point at 20-18 and converted her first opportunity to win the second game 21-18. The match lasted 33 minutes.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar