Sindhu, Srikanth romp into Indonesia Masters semis

TIL Desk Sports/ India’s two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu romped into the women’s singles semi-finals of the Indonesia Masters Super 750 badminton tournament with an easy victory over Turkey’s Neslihan Yigit, in Bali, on Friday. The reigning World champion, seeded third, needed 35 minutes to beat the unseeded Yigit 21-13, 21-10 and extend her head-to-head record against the Turkish shuttler to 4-0. The 26-year-old from Hyderabad had beaten Yigit last month as well in the Denmark Open.

Sindhu, who has played relatively easy opponents till now, has a tough match ahead as she faces the winner of the quarter-final between top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and fifth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand. Later in the day, Kidambi Srikanth made short work of compatriot H S Prannoy in a men’s last eight fixture, winning 21-7, 21-18.

Former world No. 1 Srikanth was at his vintage best, conceding just seven points in a lop-sided first game. The second game was evenly contested, as Prannoy, who shocked Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Victor Axelsen in the earlier round, made a strong recovery. He started the proceedings aggressively, racing to a 5-2 lead, but Srikanth fought back to snatch the lead at the break.