BWF Singapore Open | PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, and Saina Nehwal progress to quarterfinal
India’s strong run in the Singapore Open continued as the big three PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, and Saina Nehwal registered wins against Mia Blichfeldt, Pornpawee Chochuwong, and Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus respectively. However, Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy bowed out of the tournament.
Sindhu was up against an inexperienced but promising Mia Blichfeldt in the pre-quarters while the Indian was expected to dig deep for a win, the match wasn’t throwing up any huge upset whatsoever. And Sindhu maintained that by winning it 21-13, 21-19 to set up a quarter-final clash against China’s Cai Yanyan, where the fourth seed should be the favourite to go through.
Saina Nehwal was against Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong, who has turned heads of late with her grit and resilience against big names. And she didn’t make it any easier for Saina as well as she returned to win the second game 21-18 after losing the first one 21-16. However, the Indian veteran clinched the deciding game 21-19 to progress. She will face Japan’s second-seeded Nozomi Okuhara in the quarters.
Kidambi Srikanth also had to face a tough opponent in Denmark’s Vittinghus but the former World No.1 has been in brutal form at the moment and emerged victorious in straight games. After Srikanth won the first one fairly easily in 21-12, Vittinghus came close to snatch the second game before Srikanth eventually won it 23-21. He is up against World No.1 Kento Momota next.
In other matches, while Sameer Verma defeated Lu
In the doubles category, while the mixed doubles duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy won 21-17, 6-21, 21-19 against Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet, the women’s doubles pair of Pooja Dandu and Sanjana Santosh lost 15-21, 21-21 against Japan’s Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida.
