Singapore Open
Singapore, Apr 12:
P V Sindhu survived a scare before making the semifinals but Saina Nehwal was thoroughly outplayed in her straight-game quarterfinal loss on a mixed day for India at the Singapore Open badminton tournament here Friday.
Sindhu, in fact, emerged as the lone survivor after India’s campaign in men’s singles was over following the ouster of Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma, and loss of mixed doubles Indian pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy later in the day.
Rio Games silver-winner Sindhu defeated world No.18 and 2017 BWF World Junior Championship bronze-medallist Cai Yanyan of China 21-13 17-21 21-14 to set up a meeting with former world champion Nozomi Okuhara.
It is Sindhu’s second semifinal of the season, following a last-four finish at the India Open last month.
The second-seeded Okuhara, hailing from Japan, didn’t break much sweat on her way to a 21-8 21-13 win over sixth seed Saina, a bronze-medallist at the London Olympics.
In men’s singles, Srikanth’s struggle against Kento Momota continued as he suffered his ninth straight loss to the Japanese top seed, going down 18-21 21-19 9-21 in 66 minutes to end his campaign with yet another quarterfinal finish.
Sameer Verma, a world no 16, battled for an hour and nine minutes before losing 10-21 21-15 15-21 to second seeded Chinese Taipei Chou Tien Chen.
In mixed doubles, Pranaav and Sikki suffered a 14-21 16-21 loss to third seed Thai pair of Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai to bow out of the World Tour Super 500 tournament. (PTI)
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