Ashmita storms into Macau semis

India's Ashmita Chaliha defeated South Korea's Kim Min Sun 21-16, 21-18 to storm into the Macau Open Super 300 semifinals. Meanwhile, eighth seed Anmol Kharb exited following a three-game quarterfinal defeat to China's Han Qian Xi

Hyderabad: Ashmita Chaliha continues her strong run in the Macau Open BWF World Tour Super 300 with a convincing win over Korea’s Kim Min Sun to reach the women’s singles semi-final in Macau on Friday.

Ashmita defeated Kim 21-16, 21-18 in just 37 minutes to set up a last four clash against another Korean Park Ga Eun, who received a walkover in the quarterfinals from second seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand.

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The opening game between Ashmita and Kim was a neck-and-neck affair till 14-14. The Indian then clinched four straight points to open up a sizeable lead and then maintained the advantage.

The second game saw Kim taking the initiative and led Ashmita 11-5 at the mid game interval. But the left-handed Indian kept the pressure on her opponent and won five consecutive points from 16-18 to clinch the match.

However, eighth seed Anmol Kharb’s challenge came to an end at the last eight stage as she went down 14-21, 21-15, 21-13 against fourth seed Han Qian Xi of China.