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

Bali, November 19: Two-time Olympic medallist Indian shuttler PV Sindhu eased to straight games win over Turkey's Neslihan Yigit to enter the women's singles semifinals of the Indonesia Masters Super 750 badminton tournament in Bali on Friday (November 19).

Reigning world champion Sindhu, seeded third, registered a dominating 21-13 21-10 win over the unseeded Yigit in 35 minutes to extend her head-to-head record against the Turkish shuttler to 4-0.

The 26-year-old from Hyderabad, who had beaten Yigit earlier this year in the Swiss Open, also beat the Turk in straight games last month as well in the Denmark Open.

Sindhu, who has got relatively easy opponents until now, has a tough match ahead as she will face Japanese top seed Akane Yamaguchi, who registered comeback win against fifth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand.

The Japanese took little less than an hour to complete the come-from-behind 8-21, 21-12, 21-10 win against the Thai shuttler.

Sindhu has a 12-7 head-to-head record against the world No. 5 Yamaguchi, having beaten the 24-year old Japanese in the Tokyo Olympics quaterfinals most recently.

The 26-year-old Indian who went on to clinch the bronze medal in Tokyo, beat the Japanese top seed Yamaguchi in straight games 21-13, 22-20.

Meanwhile, in an all India quarterfinal in men's singles event Kidambi Srikanth defeated HS Prannoy in straight games to reach the semifinal stage of the tournament.

Srikanth, who proved too good for his compatriot Prannoy, won the contest 21-7, 21-18 in a match that lasted 39 minutes.

After being completely outplayed in the first game Prannoy tried to rally back in the second but Kidambi held his nerves better to deny any chance for his fellow countryman to take the match in the second game.

The 28-year-old will face the winner of the quartefinal between Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Denmark's third-seeded Andros Antonsen in the last four match on Saturday (November 20).