Australian Open Badminton 2023: Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, PV Sindhu advance to quarterfinals

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Sydney, August 3: Top Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu moved into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open Badminton 2023 following straight games win in their respective matches on Thursday (August 3) at the State Sport Centre in Sydney, Australia.

World number 19 Srikanth defeated Chinese Taipei's Su Li Yang by a scoreline of 21-10, 21-17 in the men's singles second round match that lasted for 39 minutes on Court 3.

The 30-year-old Indian will next face compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat, who defeated Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei by a scoreline of 21-8, 13-21, 21-19 in 59 minutes on Court 2 in the second round match. The Indian duo will face off in the last 8 match on Friday (August 4).

Malaysia Masters 2023 champion and sixth seed HS Prannoy registered a remarkable comeback to oust Chinese Taipei's Chi Yu Jen from a game down with a scoreline of 19-21, 21-19, 21-13 in the men's singles second round match that lasted for an hour and 14 minutes on court 4.

The in-form Prannoy will next face Indonesian and top seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, who booked his quarterfinal spot via straight games 21-15, 21-18 win in 44 minutes over India's Kiran George.

Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu, on the other hand, breezed past compatriot Akarshi Kashyap by a scoreline of 21-14, 21-10 in the women's singles second round match that went on for 39 minutes on Court 4.

Sindhu, who crashed out in the first round of the previous two tournaments on the BWF World Tour, booked a meeting with USA's Beiwen Zhang in the quarterfinal, which will take place on Friday (August 4). In previous 10 meetings, Sindhu has beaten Zhang six times.

While a quartet of Indian shuttlers progressed to the last 8, it was the end of the road for Mithun Manjunath, who had stunned former World Champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the opening round. Manjunath went down fighting 13-21, 21-12, 19-21 to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in 61 minutes on court 2.

Also, the Commonwealth Games 2022 bronze medal winning women's doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost to Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara of Japan in the women's doubles second round match via straight games 11-21, 20-22.

Earlier on Wednesday (August 2), mixed doubles teams of B Sumeeth Reddy-Ashwini Ponnappa and Rohan Kapoor-Sikki Reddy crashed out of the tournament following defeats in the opening round.

Singles shuttlers Malvika Bansod, Ashmita Chaliha and Tasnim Mir suffered opening round defeats, while Lakshya Sen was forced to retire from his men's singles opener due to illness.