Sindhu, Srikanth enter quarterfinals of Madrid Spain Masters

Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth moved to the singles quarterfinals of the Madrid Spain Masters badminton tournament with straight game wins.

FILE PHOTO: Srikanth Kidambi in action during his second-round match against Kodai Naraoka at the All England Open at the Utilita Arena, Birmingham, on March 16, 2023.

Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth moved to the singles quarterfinals of the Madrid Spain Masters badminton tournament with straight game wins on Thursday.

Two-time Olympic medallist, Sindhu dispatched Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonasia 21-16, 21-14 in a little over half an hour to enter her first quarterfinal in 2023.

World no. 21 Srikanth, on the other hand, pulled off a 21-15, 21-12 second-round win over compatriot B Sai Praneeth. Second seed Sindhu has been struggling for form this season since returning to action following a long injury lay off. It is the first time in 2023 that the 27-year-old former world champion has crossed the second round.

Sindhu, who has dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since November 2016, will take on 25-year-old Danish Mia Blichfeldt in the last eight stage of the Super 300 tournament.

While World no. 21 Srikanth, seeded fifth, has a tough contest ahead of him as the former world No. 1 is pitted against top seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the quarterfinals.

Nishimoto was handed a walkover by France’s Arnaud Merkle in their second-round contest.

Kiran George, Priyanshu Rajawat and Sameer Verma crashed out of the men’s singles event after suffering second-round defeats.

While George went down to Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen 17-21, 12-21 in 31 minutes, Rajawat was outplayed 14-21, 15-21 by eighth seed Toma Junior Popov of France. Verma suffered 15-21, 14-21 defeat against second-seeded Japanese Kanta Tsuneyama.

In women’s singles, Ashmita Chaliha went down 15-21, 15-21 to Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min while Aakarshi Kashyap lost 13-21, 8-21 to Japan’s Natsuki Nidaira. Malvika Bansod gave walkover to top seed and home favourite Carolina Marin.

Men’s doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost 16-21, 20-22 to Japan’s Shuntaro Mezaki and Haruya Nishida while women’s doubles duo of N. Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil went down 12-21, 13-21 to Japan’s Rui Hirokami and Yuna Kato.