The 21-year-old from Hyderabad defeated world number two and London Olympics silver medallist Wang Yihan of China in straight games to keep India’s medal hopes alive at Rio. Sindhu, who is only the second singles player from India left in badminton, fought back after trailing the Chinese in the first game to win 22-20.

But the Indian shuttler led the higher ranked Chinese for most part of the game, until Yihan took a 19-18 lead in the closing stages. Sindhu shown great composer and grit to level the point 19-19.

Sindhu will take on winner of all-Japanese quarters between Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi in semis on Thursday.

In the pre-quarters, Sindhu beat Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu-ying, seeded eighth, 21-13, 21-15.