French Open | PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth enter quarter-finals; Saina Nehwal bows out
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PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth have registered wins against Sayaka Takahashi and Wong Wing Ki in their respective matches to secure a berth in the quarter-finals of the French Open. However, Akane Yamaguchi, for the second consecutive time, beat Saina Nehwal to end the latter's campaign in Paris.
Both Sindhu and Takahashi went neck to neck in the first game and although the latter had a slight lead at 9-8, the Indian dominated after that to win the game 21-14. In the second game, the Japanese failed to sustain to keep up the same intensity in front of Sindhu's momentum and lost the game 13-21 to hand the Hyderabadi a place in the last eight of the women's singles. In the next round, Sindhu will have an opportunity to exact the revenge on China’s Chen Yufei, who knocked her out in the opening round of the Denmark Open.
Meanwhile, Srikanth, who entered this tournament after winning the Denmark Open title last Sunday, only took 37 minutes to get the better of Vincent Wong Wing Ki 21-19, 21-17. In the quarter-final encounter, he will face China’s Shi Yuqi, over whom Srikanth had a 2-0 head-to-head record. HS Prannoy also reached the last eight of the tournament after beating rising Danish star Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21-11, 21-12 in 31 minutes game in the second round.
On the other hand, Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth lost 21-13, 21-17 to Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in 44 minutes to bring the curtains down for him in the tournament.
However, former World No. 1 Saina failed to cross the Japanese hurdle of Akane Yamaguchi yet again as she lost 9-21, 21-23 in a 39-minute grueling clash. Although in the second game, the Indian grabbed a game point at 20-19, the World No.5 gained the advantage and closed out the match at 23-21.
In the women's doubles, the Indian pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy failed to enter the quarter-finals after losing 16-21, 14-21 to top-seeded Japanese Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi. Men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty kept Indian doubles hopes alive as they beat Denmark's Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding 22-20, 12-21, 21-19. In the next round, they will face another pair from Denmark, Mathias
