Indonesia Masters Badminton: PV Sindhu, Srikanth crash out in semis

Bengaluru, November 20: India's double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu failed to reach the women's singles summit clash after going down to Japan's top seed Akane Yamaguchi in straight games at the Indonesia Open badminton tournament on Saturday.

The 26-year-old had stormed into the semifinals with a straight games win over Turkey's Neshilan Yigit in a match which lasted just 35 minutes.

With 21-13, 21-10 resounding win, the two-time Olympic medallist had extended her dominating head-to-head record against the Turkish shuttler to 4-0.

The Hyderabadi shuttler, ranked seven, had beaten Yigit last month as well in the Denmark Open.

And earlier in the pre-quarterfinals, Sindhu had registered a brilliant come-from-behind victory against Spain's Clara Azurmendi.

Playing against the world no 47 Azurmendi for the first time, Sindhu, took 47 minutes to record a 17-21, 21-7, 21-12 in the women's singles second round clash.

But Yamaguchi proved a tough nut to crack for Sindhu as the ace Indian shuttler went down 13-21, 9-21 in the 38-minute encounter in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) sanctioned Super 750 Series event.

Indonesia Masters Badminton: Sindhu, Srikanth storm into semifinals with dominant wins

Sindhu had recently gone down to another Japanese opponent -- Sayaka Takahashi -- in the French Open badminton semifinal.

This was the 20th meeting in the pro-circuit between Sindhu and Yamaguchi.

Going into the semifinals, the Indian, seeded third in the tournament had a 12-7 head-to-head record.

But it was Yamaguchi's day in Indonesia with the Japanese shuttler reducing the head-to-head deficit to 8-12 .

Sindhu had defeated Yamaguchi in the Tokyo Games quarterfinal match, 21-13, 22-20, but it was revenger time for the Japanese.

Till the run to the semifinals, Sindhu, had got relatively easy opponents before meeting her match with the Japanese top seed.

Yamaguchi, currently ranked third in the BWF rankings, had lost to Sindhu in both the meetings this year, including the Tokyo Games quarterfinal, but it was not third time lucky for the ace Indian.

Meanwhile, later in the day, Kidambi Srikanth went down to Anders Antonsen to bring the curtains down on India’s campaign at this edition of the Indonesia Open.

In a 41-minute contest, Srikanth went down in straight games in the men's singles semifinal, as the Indian shuttler lost 14-21, 9-21 to Antonsen, who will meet Kento Momota in the men’s singles final.