BWF World Championship: Kidambi Srikanth recovers to beat Pablo Abian; Sindhu through

Nanjing (China), August 1: India ace Kidambi Srikanth struggled past Spain's Pablo Abian in a three-game match to enter the men's singles pre quarterfinals at the BWF World Championship here on Wednesday (August 1).

The fifth seeded Indian recovered from a slump during the hard-fought contest to see off Pablo 21-15, 12-21, 21-14 in a second-round match that lasted 62 minutes.

.@srikidambi talks about his today's victory against Pablo Abian and discusses his next opponent Daren Liew. Watch 📹 pic.twitter.com/dUrV0TlYgt

— PBL India (@PBLIndiaLive) August 1, 2018

PV Sindhu defeated Indonesia's Fitriani to enter the next round. It was an easy task for the Indian as she completely dominated with her speed a and strength to register a win in straight games 21-14, 21-9. She's up against ninth-seeded Ji Hyun Sung of Korea in the next round.

Srikanth, who had clinched four titles last year, will lock horns with Malaysia's Daren Liew, a former World No 10 who had won the 2012 French Open Super Series.

Srikanth erased a 2-4 and 6-8 deficit in the opening game before gaining upperhand with a 16-13 lead. He then reeled off four points to reach game points. Pablo tried to recover but the Indian quickly pocketed the opening game.

In the second game, Srikanth had opened up a 6-3 lead but Pablo rode on a six-point burst to move ahead.

The Indian made it 10-12 but the Spaniard registered seven straight points to enjoy a healthy lead to eventually roar back into contest.

Not the most confidence-inspiring performance from Srikanth there, as far the rest of the tournament is concerned, too many errors, but found his touch when it was needed and averted disaster. Kudos to Pablo Abian as well on a great fight..#BWFWC2018

— Kapil Choudhary (@kapil857) August 1, 2018

In the decider, Pablo managed a slender 11-9 advantage at the break but Srikanth turned the tables and then surged ahead to shut the door on the Spaniard.

Joining Srikanth in the quarterfinals was B Sai Praneeth, who beat Luis Enrique Penalver 21-18, 21-11. Praneeth will face Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark in the next round.

However, HS Prannoy crashed out of the tournament after losing to Brazil's Ygor Coelho 21-8, 16-21, 15-21.

The doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also crashed out of the tournament after losing their respective matches.

While Rankireddy and Shetty lost 21-18, 15-21, 21-16 to Denmark's Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, Ponnappa and Reddy went down 14-21, 15-21 to Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota.

Ponnappa and Rankireddy are alive in the mixed doubles and will face Malaysian duo Soon Huat Goh and Lai Shevon Jemie on Thursday.