Malaysia Masters: Sindhu, Srikanth enters semis

Sindhu played a clean game to beat old foe Lindaweni Fanetri 21-10, 21-10 and enter the women’s singles semi-finals of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold at the Spice Arena on Friday.

P. V. Sindhu ensured her sixth win over Lindaweni Fanetri.

Indian shuttler P. V. Sindhu played a clean game to beat old foe Lindaweni Fanetri and enter the women’s singles semi-finals of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold at the Spice Arena on Friday. Third seed Sindhu took less than half an hour to beat her Indonesian opponent 21-10, 21-10 in the quarterfinal to better her record to 8-2 against Lindaweni. This was also her sixth consecutive win over Lindaweni.

[RESULT] >#MalaysiaGPG WS-QF : Sindhu PV. [IND/3] vs Linda Wenifanetri [INA] 21-10 21-10

— BADMINTON INDONESIA (@INABadminton) >January 22, 2016

The World No. 12 Sindhu, who won the event here in 2013, will next play the winner of South Korean top seed Sung Ji Hyun and Japanese fifth seed Sayaka Sato. Her compatriots Kidambi Srikanth and Ajay Jayaram play their men’s singles quarterfinal later in the day.

Comfortable win for Srikanth

Second seed Kidambi Srikanth too brought his best to the table as he saw off China’s Huang Yuxiang 21-15, 21-14 without much ado in the men’s singles contest that lasted 33 minutes. The World No. 9 Indian will take on Malaysia’s Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin tomorrow. Srikanth had beaten the local player in a gruelling three-match contest during the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold last year.

Sindhu, who had clinched the Macau Open last year, opened up a 5-1 lead early on but Fanetri clawed back at 7-7 before the Indian zoomed ahead to pocket the first game. Things didn’t change in the second game as well as Sindhu brought more aggression in her game and dominated the proceedings completely.

In the men’s singles contest, Srikanth showed his prowess as he ran away with the opening game without any fight from Huang. In the second game, the Chinese opened up a 8-4 lead, but Srikanth drew parity with four consecutive points and engaged in a hard battle with the Chinese till 15-14. He then stepped on the gas and shut the door on Huang.

Jayaram falters

In another men’s singles match, India’s Ajay Jayaram, who won the Dutch Open and reached his maiden Super Series Final at Korea, suffered a 16-21 16-21 loss to former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia to crash out of the tournament.