6.10 pm: Match report here, ICYMI the action. A good day for PV Sindhu but tougher tests lie ahead as she hopes to end her wait for a title in 2019. Thanks for joining us, hope you enjoyed our coverage.
6.05 pm: Akane Yamaguchi has an easy outing too and she will take on top seed Tai Tzu Ying in the other women’s semi-final. TTY was pushed all the way by Intanon earlier today.
5.55 pm: That was one solid performance from PV Sindhu... Okuhara did not have her best days but Sindhu had one of her best in recent times. Great win for the fifth seeded Indian.
Here’s how the second game panned out.
Abhijeet Kulkarni: Sindhu clearly had an additional gear that hurt Okuhara after the break in the second game. More importantly the Indian looked assured today. She takes on Chen Yufei on Saturday.
Sindhu 21-14, 21-7 Okuhara: A warm handshake at the end between the two as Sindhu edges ahead in the rivalry with Nozomi Okuhara. Sindhu now has 8 wins in 15 matches! More importantly, semi-final in Jakarta beckons.
PV Sindhu 21-14, 21-7 Okuhara - THE INDIAN WINS IN STYLE!
Another powerful smash at the net that leaves Okuhara nowhere to go. And it’s a stunning win for Sindhu. Arguably the best match she played this year.
Second game, PV Sindhu 21-14, 20-7 Okuhara
THIRTEEN MATCH POINTS PV SINDHU!
Second game, PV Sindhu 21-14, 19-7 Okuhara
Okuhara can’t buy a point at the moment. Sindhu two points away as the Japanese sends a lift wide.
Second game, PV Sindhu 21-14, 17-7 Okuhara
Okuhara is on her knees again! Sindhu with a delightful backhand crosscourt drop shot takes a 10-point lead.
Second game, PV Sindhu 21-14, 14-7 Okuhara
More dominance from PV Sindhu with the occasional come on. We do not have the rally stats with us but the Indian has dominated most of the points even in the longer rallies after the early part of the first game. Two superb smashes from Sindhu give her a massive lead in the second game.
Abhijeet Kulkarni: Sindhu has done well to pin Okuhara to the back and the Japanese has been scurrying to keep the shuttle in play at times
Second game, PV Sindhu 21-14, 11-6 Okuhara
For the second time in the second game Sindhu has a five-point lead as she goes into the interval 11-6! Okuhara was once again left on the court after a superb one-two punch from Sindhu with a drop followed by a lift in one of the earlier rallies.
Second game, PV Sindhu 21-14, 10-6 Okuhara
A four point lead for Sindhu now! Another superb rally from both shuttlers, another mistake from Okuhara to close that out. Sindhu’s court coverage has been fantastic too.
Second game, PV Sindhu 21-14, 8-5 Okuhara
Aggression from Okuhara... she knows she cannot let Sindhu run away with a big lead here. The Japanese has picked up the pace of the rallies and forcing Sindhu to be on the backfoot. Cuts the lead down to 5-7 before another error breaks her momentum. Sindhu pumped up too.
Second game, PV Sindhu 21-14, 6-4 Okuhara
Okuhara misses another exchange at the net but comes back to win the next two points to close the gap down. Sindhu’s forehand not quite clicking from the other end.
Second game, PV Sindhu 21-14, 5-1 Okuhara
A couple more errors from Okuhara (one at the baseline and one at the net) and Sindhu has a healthy lead to start the second game!
Second game, PV Sindhu 21-14, 3-1 Okuhara
After a couple of tight exchanges, the errors continue to flow from Okuhara’s racket.
First game stats: There’s a slight confusion as to whether the score was 21-13 or 21-14, we hope to clarify that soon.
(CORRECTION): First game, PV Sindhu 21-14 Nozomi Okuhara
And Sindhu has 6 game points, she needs only one to close this out. A very efficient opening game from Sindhu and she edges ahead in this quarter-final!
First game, PV Sindhu 19-12 Nozomi Okuhara
Okuhara is clearly struggling to keep the shuttle in play on Sindhu’s backhand side and has lost quite a few points that way. She rushes into a smash and nets it too... Sindhu running away with the opening game. And what a point!!! Superb defense from Sindhu as she returns a smash over Okuhara and the shuttle lands in! Okuhara has a stunned look on her face! She loses a point that she was dominating.
First game, PV Sindhu 17-11 Nozomi Okuhara
Back-to-back points for Sindhu and she retakes a five-point lead. Make it 6 as she plays a delightful backhand that wrong-foots Okuhara!
First game, PV Sindhu 14-11 Nozomi Okuhara
Another fist-bump from Sindhu as she resumes from the break with a good rally finishing in her favour. Then shows some good defensive skills to force an error from Okuhara, who tamely nets the next point. Five-point lead for Sindhu now! She then sends a crosscourt just wide before another long rally goes in the Japanese favour. Keeping the points short seems to be the way forward for the Indian here.
First game, PV Sindhu 11-8 Nozomi Okuhara
A lucky net chord helps Okuhara close the gap to 8-10. Sindhu then lets out a “come on!” as she nails a smash that leaves Okuhara on the floor. The Indian has a slender advantage going into the mid-game interval.
First game, PV Sindhu 10-7 Nozomi Okuhara
Superb touch over the net by Sindhu gives her a 8-6 lead. She moves ahead 9-6 as for the third time in the match Okuhara hits one wide to Sindhu’s left. The Japanese then finds the net to give Sindhu a handy 4-point lead. The Indian fails to close out another wonderful long rally as he misses a body smash and then sends the shuttle long! So many great rallies already.
First game, PV Sindhu 7-6 Nozomi Okuhara
Okuhara moves ahead 6-5 as Sindhu hits a lift long. The Indian levels it up soon after. Neither player budging at the moment. Sindhu then takes a one-point lead as Okuhara cannot reach a back-court push from Sindhu.
First game, PV Sindhu 5-5 Nozomi Okuhara
For the second time, Sindhu shows good judgement to let the shuttle drop wide on her left. Okuhara is on the floor in the following rally but Sindhu’s forehand smash did not cross the net.
First game, PV Sindhu 4-4 Nozomi Okuhara
WHAT A RALLY! That was Glasgow-esque! Both players moving around the court brilliantly to keep the shuttle in play but Okuhara controlled the pace well thanks to her drops once again. She takes the point after some bruising exchanges.
First game, PV Sindhu 4-3 Nozomi Okuhara
Sindhu nets a forehand and then shows great judgement to leave the shuttle on her left sideline. Couple of longish rallies follow that goes in Okuhara’s favour thanks to her backhand drops. Tight start to the game.
First game, PV Sindhu 3-0 Nozomi Okuhara
A good start for the Indian. A couple of winners from her racquet followed by an error from Okuhara’s backhand.
4.58 pm: Here we go, the players are out on court.
4.50 pm: The Sindhu-Okuhara rivalry is already one of the classic match-ups in women’s singles... it’s their 15th meeting, like we said earlier. Who can forget that epic 2017 World Championships final! This is their 8th match since that famous evening in Glasgow and Sindhu has won 4 out of the last 7.
4.42 pm: The Sindhu-Okuhara match is NOT on the TV court and hence will not be broadcast on Star network in India. You can catch up on a live stream in the YouTube channel here.
4.37 pm: A place in the semi-finals is at stake for these two shuttlers today. They will face No 2 seed Chen Yu Fei from China who defeated Beiwen Zhang a little while back.
4.30 pm: Hello all and welcome to the live coverage of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament in Jakarta. In the quarterfinals of women’s singles, it’s a blockbuster clash between India’s PV Sindhu and Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara!
After a hard-fought quarter-final over world No 13 Mia Blichfeldt, the task gets 10 times harder for Sindhu in Jakarta today. Sindhu will now a familiar rival in the last night as she takes on Nozomi Okuhara (third seed) who defeated Sonia Cheah in straight games. It’s the 15th meeting between the 2017 World Championships finalists with the rivalry tied at seven wins each. Third seed Okuhara is going to be a complete different proposition than the Dane... who’s going to emerge on top in this epic rivalry today?
On Thursday, India’s campaign in the men’s singles came to an end on a day of upsets in that part of the draw. Eighth seed K Srikanth was knocked out in straight games by Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus 21-17, 21-19 in 39 minutes. Earlier in the day, top seed Kento Momota was also eliminated followed by fifth seed Chen Long. In between, No 2 Shi Yuqi injured his ankle badly to retire hurt from his round of 16 match against Anders Antonsen.
Sindhu is the last remaining Indian in contention in Jakarta.
Here’s how the head-to-head stands at the moment... more details as we build up to the game.