Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu sailed into the women's singles quarterfinals with straight-game wins but it was curtains for Kidambi Srikanth at the BWF Badminton World Championships in Nanjing on Thursday.
Saina, who had clinched a silver and a bronze at the 2015 and 2017 editions, downed 2013 champion Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand 21-16 21-19 to set up a meeting with Olympic champion and two-time world champion, Carolina Marin of Spain.
Later in the day, last edition's silver medallist Sindhu, seeded third, eased past ninth seed Ji Hyun Sung of Korea 21-10 21-18 in another third round clash.
Really happy with the performance. It was a good match overall even though I won the first set quite easily and the second game was not easy where I was actually trailing almost 2-7 and still I gave my best, still had hope in me that you know that the game is not over, the match is not over and each point was very important for me because even after trailing I cam back and those few points were really important. I had to be consistent and very patient.PV Sindhu
Sindhu will next play eight seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, a rival against whom she lost in the summit clash of the tournament last year.
Time to go back and rest up and prepare well for tomorrow’s match. We have been playing against each other for a while and tomorrow will be yet another one and a very important one, I can tell u one thing it will be a long match so need to be prepared and I will give my 100 percent.PV Sindhu
B Sai Praneeth also eased into the men's singles quarterfinals with a comfortable 21-13 21-11 win over Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus. He will next take on sixth seed Kento Momoto.
The Indian mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa also stood one step away from a medal after pulling off a stunning 20-22 21-14 21-6 victory over the Malaysian world no.7 combination of Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai.
However, fifth seed Srikanth's dream of winning a medal came crashing down after he was outwitted 18-21 18-21 by the experienced Malaysian Daren Liew in a 41-minute clash.
"I had my chances but couldn't keep the shuttle in. Too many smashes out, too many mistakes. I should have handled it much better," said Srikanth.
Saina showed amazing retrieving skills against Inthanon, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from an injury.
"It is a very good win. She is known for a deceptive game. Second game was going my way, but suddenly she played some difficult strokes, she was everywhere and made it 19-19. At that point, Gopi sir played a big role. He told me what to do and I followed that and the game turned in my favour," Saina said.
Pressure is less on me now because the last few tournaments I haven’t been able to cross the quarterfinals but I have played well at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Championship. But I can see that the form sometimes goes here and there but I am happy it is coming back in important events.Saina Nehwal
It was an even battle in the opening game in which the Malaysian pair managed an 11-8 lead at the break and though Ashwini and Satwik clawed back at 14-14 and even held a slender 18-16 lead at one stage, their rivals were more composed to pocket the game.
In the second game, Goh and Shevon opened up a 5-2 lead but this time Ashwini and Satwik drew parity at 9-9 and then broke off to bounce back into the contest.
In the decider, the Indian pair was brilliant as it aggressively dominated the proceedings. They led 11-4 at the interval and continued in the same vein after the breather to storm into the quarters.
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