Sindhu, Srikanth enter quarterfinals of Indonesian Masters

Jakarta, January 24: PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth entered the quarterfinals of the Indonesian Masters beating Gregoria Mariska Tungjung and Kenta Nishimoto in straight sets here on Thursday (January 24). Sindhu won 23-21, 21-7 after a brief struggle while Srikanth crossed the line much easier 21-14, 21-9.

Sindhu looked out of her depth in the first set, often losing focus and the lead. Sindhu was leading 19-15 at one stage but allowed the Indonesian girl to comeback and she was a point away from snatching the first set. But Sindhu regrouped at the right time to bag the first set.

The win after that brief struggle seemed to power up Sindhu and thereafter she gave little chance to Mariska as the latter was not even in picture. Sindhu won the game and match easily 21-7 in 37 minutes.

On the other hand, Srikanth played much more consistent badminton to oust Nishimoto in just 30 minutes. The only time Nishimoto was in the game when he competed neck-to-neck with Srikanth at 9-8 but the Indian picked up 10 straight points to move away from his opponent in some style.

Srikanth opened up a 6-0 lead in the second set and then extended it to 12-8 and from thereon there was no doubt over the winner.

In the quarterfinals, Sindhu will play the winner of the match between world champion Carolina Marin and Ga Eun Kim of Korea while Srikanth faces either second seed Shi Yuqi or Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie.

Later in the day, Saina Nehwal will take on Fitriani Fitriani in the second round while the men's doubles combination of Manu Atri and B Sumeeth Reddy will face fifth seed Danish combination of Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen.