Hylo Open: Kidambi Srikanth beats Jonatan Christie, cruises into semifinals; Malvika Bansod loses in quarterfinals

Gregoria, ranked 21 in the world, beat Malvika 21-17, 21-10 in 33 minutes and confirmed her place in the semifinals.

FILE PHOTO: India’s Srikanth Kidambi reacts after winning a point against Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie during their men’s singles final badminton match at Thomas Cup in Bangkok on May 15, 2022. | Photo Credit: AP

Kidambi Srikanth cruised into the semifinals of the Hylo Open here on Friday.

The world no. 11 Indian shuttler beat Indonesia’s Jonathan Christie 21-13, 21-19 in a match that lasted for 39 minutes.

This is Srikanth’s first semifinal qualification since April. This year, the former world no. 1 shuttler played in two semifinals in the Swiss Open and Korea Open, but he is yet to win a title.

With this win, Srikanth also took a 6-5 head-to-head lead against Christie.

In the semifinal, Srikanth will face Anthony Ginting of Indonesia on Saturday. Ginting beat Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the quarterfinal.

Meanwhile, in the women’s singles quarterfinals, Malvika Bansod’s winning run in the Super 300 badminton tournament ended when she lost her quarterfinal match to Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska.

Gregoria, ranked 21 in the world, beat Malvika 21-17, 21-10 in 33 minutes and confirmed her place in the semifinals.

In the first game, Mariska won six points in a row. It helped her to take control of the match. In the second game, she won four successive points to widen the gap as world no. 39 Malvika struggled to find her rhythm. The Indonesian eventually swept the game 21-10 and advanced to the semifinals.