Indian badminton ace P.V. Sindhu squandered a one-game advantage to go down fighting to top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the quarterfinals of the Thailand Open tournament here on Friday (May 15, 2026).

Sindhu lost 21-19, 18-21, 15-21 to world number three Yamaguchi in the women's singles quarterfinal match that lasted just over one hour in the $5,00,000 Super 500 tournament.

Despite the loss, world number 12 Sindhu leads the head-to-head record against Yamaguchi 15-13. In the Malaysia Open Super 1000 tournament in January, Sindhu had prevailed after Yamaguchi retired from their quarterfinal game due to an injury.

The first game on Friday was a neck-and-neck affair with one player ahead by just one point till 11-11. After that, Yamaguchi was 13-11 ahead but Sindhu rallied to level the scores. After they were 19-19, Sindhu pocketed the next two points to take the first game.

Sindhu was 5-1 ahead and it looked like she will carry the momentum but she let her arch-rival to come back and level the scores at 11-11. From 7-11, Yamaguchi took seven straight points to go up 14-11.

By then, the momentum had shifted to Yamaguchi and she took the game 21-18.

In the decider, Sindhu was not in her elements as she trailed all through.

From trailing 0-5, the Indian narrowed the gap to 11-12 but Yamaguchi then switched gears to take the decider 21-15 and win the match.

Sindhu later rued letting go of the 1-5 lead in the second game, while also admitting that unforced errors affected her game.

"I felt I made simple errors, because I was leading in the second game. It was not like we were doing the rally, it was not like easy points, but maybe I should have converted it into a win," she said after the match.

"In the third game, she was maintaining the lead, but I think in the beginning I gave her four or five points in a row. I recovered but still two-three points really matter a lot at that point," said the two-time Olympic medallist.

She conceded that she should have been consistent so that she could win the crucial points.

"I think, I should have had the upper hand, I made those errors which I shouldn't have made. It's important for me to maintain (the rhythm) at that level. I need to be consistent, when I'm leading that one, two points, you know, from the beginning itself.

"These are a few things (that matter) at the highest level, it does matter a lot. Even though I'm like there competing with the top players, I think it's very important to be prepared for each and every rally and point, that matters a lot, like when it comes to the end." Sixth seed Sindhu had reached the quarterfinals after beating Denmark's Amalie Schulz 21-13, 21-15 on Thursday.

Lakshya Sen, the 2021 World Championships bronze medallist, and the duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will feature in the men's singles and men's doubles quarterfinals respectively later in the day.