Sindhu in semis, Srikanth bows out of Badminton Worlds

Continuing her good run, India's P.V. Sindhu won her quarter-finals match to advance while Kidambi Srikanth lost his men's singles encounter and bowed out of the World Badminton Championships here on Friday.

Sindhu, fourth seed, defeated fifth seed Sun Yu of China 21-14, 21-9 in a match which lasted around 40 minutes. She will now take on Chen Yufei of China, who continued her winning run by beating eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 14-21, 21-16, 21-12.

Sindhu began the match on a positive note, opening up a 3-0 lead. The Chinese clawed her way back and reduced the gap to one point.

With the score reading 5-4 in Sindhu's favour, she won six straight points to win the lead 11-4 at the break.

After play resumed, the story continued with Sindhu steamrolling her way towards winning the first game.

Sun Yu tried to stop the juggernaut but could not do much as Sindhu raced to win the opening game 21-14.

After the change of ends, Sindhu continued her good run to take an 8-4 lead. The Chinese had no answer for Sindhu's precision play and made too many errors allowing Sindhu to go into the break 11-4.

The World No.4 resumed from where she left and Sun Yu tried to launch a comeback but Sindhu maintained her stronghold and opened up a huge lead.

Sun Yu tried delaying the inevitable but Sindhu eventually sealed the match 21-9 to march into the semi-finals.

"Well I am happy with the way I have played today and I am pleased with the results. Even though I won, I must admit that Sun Yu is not an easy player to play against and the last time I played against her I lost to her (In Dubai 2016)," Sindhu said after the match.

"I am happy with the performance today. I went on the court thinking I need to give my best and play my game. Last time I played her I lost to her in Dubai. It wasn't easy and each point was important to me, even although I was leading," she added.

Commenting about her next encounter with Chen, Sindhu said: "She is a good player and she is playing well. It is never easy in the semi-final of a World Championship, anything can happen. I have to be prepared for everything."

In the other match, Srikanth was beaten by top seed Son Wan Ho of South Korea 21-14, 21-18 in 48 minutes.

Srikanth never looked in the contention in the first game as the South Korean star outplayed him in every department. But in the second game, Srikanth gave some fight before surrendering.

Five-time winner Lin Dan also defeated Wong Wing Ki Vincent to reach the semi-finals.

The 33-year-old player defeated the 12th-seeded Wong from Hong Kong 21-17, 21-18.

The 2008, 2012 Olympic champion will now face top seed Son Wan Ho of South Korea, who beat Srikanth earlier.

--IANS

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