Indonesia Masters: Saina in semis, Sindhu and Srikanth crash out

Saina, seeded eighth in the tournament, needed just 33 minutes to tame her opponent 21-7, 21-18 in the women’s singles quarterfinal match.

Published : Jan 25, 2019 14:41 IST , Jakarta

Saina Nehwal defeated Pornpawee Chochuwong to enter the semifinal.
Saina Nehwal defeated Pornpawee Chochuwong to enter the semifinal.
lightbox-info

Saina Nehwal defeated Pornpawee Chochuwong to enter the semifinal.

Saina Nehwal hardly broke a sweat on way to her second consecutive semifinal of the season but P.V. Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth lost their respective quarterfinals to bow out of the Indonesia Masters badminton tournament here on Friday.

Eighth seed Saina, who had reached the semifinal last week at Malaysia Masters, beat Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-7, 21-18 to make it to the last four of women’s singles.

The two-time Commonwealth Games champion will next face sixth seeded Chinese He Bingjiao, a player Saina has never faced in her career.

Sindhu couldn’t adjust to the speed and precision of three-time Olympic champion Caroline Marin, going down 11-21, 12-21 in a lopsided contest. While, Srikanth had to settle for a second quarter-final finish after losing 18-21, 19-21 to local hero and Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie.

Saina enjoyed a good start and galloped to a 11-4 lead at the interval. The indian continued to dominate proceeding after the interval, moving in quick bursts of points to close out the opening game comfortably.

In the second game, Chochuwong ran to 8-4 lead, but Saina caught up with her at 12-12 before going ahead and shutting the door on her opponent.

In 13 meetings, Sindhu has lagged 5-7 against Marin in their head-to-head record, which included defeats at the Rio Olympics and 2018 World championship finals.

Marin seemed equally unstoppable on Friday as she marched to a 6-1 lead with her better court coverage and angled returns, with Sindhu looking for an opening.

The Indian exchanged rallies and made it to 5-8 before Marin grabbed a six-point lead at the break with a cross court smash and a long return from Sindhu.

Sindhu reduced the margin to 10-14 but Marin eventually pocketed the first game when the Indian went wide and long.

In the second game, Sindhu couldn’t keep the shuttle inside the court, allowing Marin to again zoom to a 5-0 lead. A net error from Marin helped Sindhu break the run of points but the Indian continued to commit too many unforced errors.

Sindhu failed to see the initiatives during the fast paced rallies. A huge body smash took Marin to 11-3 at the interval.

Marin gathered points at will and made it 15-5 with another smash. She eventually sealed the contest when Sindhu hit the net.

In the men’s singles quarterfinals, Srikanth tried to put pressure on his rival but Jonatan was solid in his defence and with the Indian making errors, the Indonesian led 11-7 at the break.

KIDAMBIjpg
Kidambi Srikanth made too many unforced errors during his quarterfinal clash against Jonatan Christie.
 

Srikanth caught up with Jonatan at 15-15 after making a few good saves. The Indian then unleashed a straight smash to lead 17-16 for the first time in the match.

But Srikanth committed too many unforced errors and also made a misjudgement at the backline to hand over game points to the Indonesian who sealed it with a half smash.

Jonatan raced away to a 6-0 lead before a spinning net shot helped Srikanth to log his first point in the second game. However, the Indonesian managed to lead 11-4 at the breather after Srikanth failed to reach a shot at the forecourt.

After the break, Jonatan maintained the lead to reach 15-8. The Indian grabbed three quick points but a weak return from the backline found the net.

Srikanth reduced the deficit to 14-16 by pushing the shuttle at the back court. Srikanth brought the equation down to 18-19 before Jonatan made an error of judgment at the back court. But the Indonesian made amends immediately as he unleashed a smash to reach match points before grabbing it with another return.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment