PV Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2021 Indonesia Open after winning their respective singles’ matches on Thursday. However, it was the end of roads for Kidambi Srikanth as he lost to Tokyo Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in pre-quarters.
Sindhu seeded third for this event, was in dominant form against the World No 26 Yuonne, and won the match 21-12, 21-18 in just 37 minutes.
After the initial exchanges in the first game, the two players went neck-and-neck as Sindhu maintained a two-point lead at 6-4. She won seven consecutive points in this game as she took a 16-9 lead before going on to win the game 21-12.
Yuonne came up with a better performance in the second game as she remained in close chase of Sindhu as the 26-year-old from Hyderabad maintained an upper hand, wrapping up the game and match on her second game point.
In the quarter-finals, Sindhu will take on the winner of the match between South Korea’s Sim Yu-jin and Spain’s Beatriz Corrales.
Sindhu has reached the semi-finals in two events this year and stands a good chance of repeating that result in Indonesia as she looks in good form.
In the quarter-finals, Sindhu will now face South Korean shuttler Sim Yujin, who defeated Spain’s Beatriz Corrales in the round of 16.
Whereas, in the men’s singles, former world No 1 Srikanth was knocked out by Axelsen. The second seed beat the Indian 21-14, 21-18.
Axelsen’s quarter-final opponent will be B Sai Praneeth, who sealed his last eight spot with a 21-17, 14-21, 21-19 win over Frenchman Christo Popov.
Meanwhile, India’s men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy began their campaign with a 21-15, 19-21, 23-21 win over South Korea’s Kang Minhyuk and Seo Seungjae in the second round. Chirag and Satwik got a walkover in their round 1 match.
