Nguyen Thuy Linh 'shockingly' defeated the former world number 1, causing her opponent to angrily smash her racket.

Thuy Linh created a surprising victory over former world number 1 Sindhu - Photo: BWF

Since the beginning of the year, Nguyen Thuy Linh's performance has been unstable, with ups and downs. She has dropped to 26th place in the world rankings, after being in the top 20 continuously last year.

Her opponent, Sindhu, has been one of the strongest players in the world for many years and was once ranked No. 1 in the world. In 2019, she won the women's singles world championship. Currently, Sindhu is ranked No. 16 in the world.

In terms of head-to-head record, the Indian player is slightly better with 2 wins and 1 loss. However, her loss came in the most recent encounter between the two at the Indonesia Master earlier this year.

In the encounter at the Malaysia Open on the morning of May 21, it was clear that Sindhu was still rated higher. But the match once again favored Thuy Linh. The Vietnamese badminton hot girl had some difficult pressure moves for Sindhu.

She led 4-2, 6-3 and then created bigger gaps in game 1. Thuy Linh won 21-11 in this game.

In the second set, Sindhu, with her experience and class, rose strongly. She quickly took the lead to 6-0, then 11-6, then won 21-14 and brought the match to the third set.

At this time, Thuy Linh continued to have difficulties in the early points. But with determination, she maintained the pursuit and gradually took the lead. Thuy Linh's playing style brought discomfort, making Sindhu angry and had to smash her racket in this game. She was given a red card and deducted 1 point by the referee.

Venting her anger did not help Sindhu play better. Thuy Linh played calmly and finished with a 21-15 victory in game 3.

With this unexpected victory, Thuy Linh won a ticket to the round of 16 to meet Line Christophersen (Denmark).

DUC KHUE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nguyen-thuy-linh-thang-soc-cuu-so-1-the-gioi-khien-doi-thu-buc-tuc-dap-vot-20250521115123869.htm