Two days after staving off a mighty challenge from the 2012 Olympic champion Li Xuerui, Indian shuttle queen PV Sindhu faces yet another tough task at the Indonesia Masters 2019 on Friday as she faces the reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin in the quarter-finals. The Spaniard began the 2019 season with a runner-up finish at the Malaysia Masters last week and would be eager to go all the way this week in Jakarta.
For BWF World Tour Finals winner Sindhu, this is her first tournament of the new season and she would have to be ready right from the world go to deal with the southpaw's aggressive shots.
Saina Nehwal has a comparatively easier challenge in her last-eight match. Nehwal, who was the runner-up of this tournament last year, meets World No. 22 Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand for a place in the semi-finals. The World No. 9 would be keen to notch up her fourth win in as many meetings over Chochuwong.
Srikanth has the World No. 12 Jonatan Christie, winner of the Asian Games gold medal last year. The two are tied at 2-2 in their head-to-head meetings and the young Indonesian even won their last showdown which happened to be just last year. The Indian No. 1 thus definitely needs to be alert right from the start.
Here’s all the information you need to know about the matches:
Tournament name: Daihatsu Indonesia Masters 2019
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
Category: Super 500
Date: Friday, January 25, 2019
Round: Quarter-finals
Time:
Women's singles
(8) Saina Nehwal vs Pornpawee Chochuwong at approx 2:10 pm local time or 11:40 am IST
(2) PV Sindhu vs (5) Carolina Marin at approx 5:45 pm local time or 3:15 pm IST
Men's singles
(8) Kidambi Srikanth vs Jonatan Christie at approx 2:20 pm local time or 11:50 am IST
Channel: Live telecast on Star Sports Select 1 and Star Sports Select 1 HD