Unnati Hooda beats Devika Sihag to enter semifinals of Taipei Open

Taipei: India's Unnati Hooda clinched a straight-game 23-21, 21-16 victory over Devika Sihag to reach the Taipei Open semifinals here on Friday.

The all-Indian quarterfinal clash started with a fiercely contested first game, where Hooda held her nerve to win it 23-21.

Hooda was off to a great start, racing to an 11-3 lead before Sihag staged a spirited comeback to level the scores at 21-21. However, Hooda held her composure in the closing stages, winning the next two points to clinch the opening game.


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In the second game, the third seeded Hooda maintained her momentum and capitalised on her leads to wrap up the match 21-16 against eighth seed Sihag in 42 minutes.

The 18-year-old Hooda will next face the winner of the quarterfinal between Chinese Taipei's Chiu Pin-chian and Vietnam's Nguyen Thuy Linh.

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Later in the day, Tanvi Sharma and Kiran George will play their respective singles quarterfinals against Thailand's Supanida Katethong and Japan's Yudai Okimoto.