Indian men's singles shuttlers made it a good Friday for the contingent even as PV Sindhu crashed out in the quarter-finals of the $350,000 OUE Singapore Open Superseries.
Srikanth Kidambi, who is on the comeback trail from an ankle injury, gave ample glimpses of his brilliance to pull off a 21-14, 21-16 victory over the fifth seed and 2017 All England Championships runner-up Shi Yuqi of China. He thus joins his compatriot B Sai Praneeth, who earlier came back from a game deficit to topple the eighth seed and World No. 11 Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand, 15-21, 21-14, 21-19 in 1 hour 11 minutes.
While Srikanth will next face the World No. 26 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Sai will take on the 35th ranked Lee Dong Keun.
But the India No. 1 women's singles player, PV Sindhu, did not have the same fortune and bowed out 11-21, 15-21 to the fourth seed and World No. 2 Carolina Marin in a quarter-final that was dominated by the Olympic champion from start to finish.
The mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy too exited with an 11-21, 8-21 loss to the third-seeded Chinese team of Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong.
Srikanth’s first Superseries semi-final in 10 months
Srikanth, who saved three match points in his second-round triumph over Ihsan Maulana Mustofa, was involved in a deadlock with the Chinese in the initial stages of the opening game. From 7-7, he broke away to lead 9-7 and then had an 11-8 advantage at half-time.
He kept on separating himself further from the World No. 8 and had a six-point lead at one stage before racing on to wrap up the first game, 21-14.
It was, however, Shi Yuqi who started the second game more confidently. He led 6-3 and 10-7 but each time, the determined Indian stormed back to level the game.
Srikanth grabbed the lead for the first time at 11-10. However, they were once again tied at 15-15. Srikanth though inched ahead and never relinquished his lead to close out the win in 36 minutes.
This is the first time that the former World No. 3 has made it to the semi-finals of a Superseries event since last June’s Australian Open.
Marin dominates Sindhu
PV Sindhu, in contrast, was a pale shadow of the player who beat Marin in straight games in the India Open final less than two weeks back. The Spanish southpaw never faltered, making life difficult for the Indian.
Marin’s pace and anticipation skills were right on point and that helped her complete the win in just 35 minutes. After going down 4-9, Sindhu tried to extend the rallies but the two-time world champion’s efficient patrolling at the net blocked everything that Sindhu threw at her.
Marin also smartly attacked the backhand wing of Sindhu by persistently going for her sharp down-the-line forehand winners. She led 18-8 before pocketing the first game, 21-11.
The second game was hardly different. Under pressure from a highly confident Marin, Sindhu’s error count kept on mounting and it just did not help her cause at all.
The World No. 2 raced ahead to 9-3 and made it a 19-11 lead in no time. Riding on some vociferous cheering from the crowd, the Indian did manage to halt the Marin juggernaut, albeit for a brief period as she took three points in a row to trail 14-19. But that was the closest she could get to her nemesis for the Spanish shuttler soon dashed all of Sindhu’s hopes by taking two of the next three points.
This was Marin’s first win over Sindhu after two consecutive losses.
