World Championships: Kidambi Srikanth sails into quarters
India's Kidambi Srikanth beat Danish Anders Antonsen 21-14, 21-18 to enter the quarterfinals.
Published : Aug 24, 2017 18:45 IST
India's Kidambi Srikanth eased into the quarterfinals with yet another straight-game win over Denmark’s Anders Antonsen in men’s singles.
On a 12-match winning streak, Srikanth knocked out World No. 18 Antonsen 21-14, 21-18. The World No. 10 Indian will clash with top seed and World No. 1 Korean Son Wan Ho in the quarterfinals.
“It was a good game today. There were some intense rallies and I am happy for the win,” Srikanth said.
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Srikanth, who finished at the pre-quarterfinals in the last two editions, has a 4-4 head-to-head record against Son, whom he has beaten twice this year en route to his titles at Indonesia and Australia in June.
“It will be a tough match but I have been improving with each match and looking forward for a good game tomorrow,” Srikanth added.
Later in the day, B Sai Praneeth and Ajay Jayaram, however, suffered contrasting defeats to crash out of the tournament.
Praneeth fought hard before going down 21-19, 10-21, 12-21 to World No. 4 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, while Jayaram, who had disposed off The Netherland’s Mark Caljouw yesterday, was no match for two-time defending champion Chen Long of China as he lost 11-21, 10-21 in 41 minutes.
India’s top mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy, seeded 15th, played their heart out before going down 22-20, 18-21 18-21 to Indonesian World No. 6 duo of Debby Susanto and Praveen Jordan.
Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand said: “So far it has really been a very good performance and I am very pleased with the players. We did lose couple of close doubles matches that could have our way but overall it has been satisfying.”