Tokyo, Sept 22:
India’s Kidambi Srikanth crashed out in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open Super Series after losing to recently-crown world champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark but mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy advanced to the semifinals, here today.
The 25-year-old from Guntur, who clinched back-to-back titles at Indonesia and Australia, couldn’t curb his simple errors to go down 17-21 17-21 to world no 2 and third seed Axelsen in a men’s singles quarterfinal contest that lasted 40 minutes.
With this victory, Axelsen enjoys a 3-2 head-to-head lead over Srikanth in five meetings, having won the last three duels.
US Open champion H S Prannoy too suffered a 15-21 14-21 loss to China’s second seed Shi Yuqi in 45 minutes to crash out in the last-eight stage.
But Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold champions Pranaav and Sikki kept India’s flag fluttering, defeating Korea’s Seung Jae Seo and Kim Ha Na 21-18 9-21 21-19 to set up a clash with Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Sayaka Hirota in the next round. (PTI)
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