Malaysia Masters: P V Sindhu, Srikanth enter quarters

Two-time World Championship bronze medallist, P V Sindhu confirmed her place in the quarter-final after earning a hard-fought win against Kaori Imabeppu of Japan. The third-seeded Indian looked in prime form in the first set after pocketing it 21-13 against her unseeded opponent. However, Kaori produced a tremendous fight-back in the second set to make things level with the same scoreline. With drift playing a big part in the play, Sindhu emerged the winner in the third game with a 21-14 score. Sindhu will now take on Indonesian shuttler Lindaweni Fanetri in the quarter-final on Friday.

In the Men’s Singles, second seed Kidambi Srikanth, who had registered a straight-games victory over his opponents yesterday, continued his good start to the season by defeating 16th seed Boonsak Posana 21-17, 21-10 in 33 minutes to enter the quarter-final stage. Srikanth is scheduled to face unseeded Huang Yuxiang in the quarter-final tomorrow.

10th seeded Ajay Jayaram also made his way into the quarter-final after earning the victory in a tight contest against unseeded Zulfadli Zulkiffli from Malaysia. After going down 11-21 against the home favourite in the first game, Jayaram levelled things up in the match by winning the game 21-8. The third and final set proved to be a nail-biter as both players went neck-to-neck to earn the passage to the next round. Leading 20-17 in the final game, the Malaysian plundered three match points to give the Indian a chance, and Jayaram grabbed it with both hands to take the game 22-20 and to earn a place in the quarters.

In the Women’s Doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa bowed out of the tournament in the pre-quarters after going down 14-21, 17-21 to the Japanese pair of Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito.