China Open 2018: PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth through to quarter-finals with hard-fought wins; doubles teams crash out

Changzhou: Star shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth registered hard-fought victories to enter the quarter-finals of their respective events at the $1 million China Open on Thursday. Third seed Sindhu bounced back after losing a close first game to record a 21-23 21-13 21-18 win in her second round women’s singles match against Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan. [caption id=“attachment_5227381” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of PV Sindhu. AFP/Toshifumi Kitamura[/caption] Srikanth’s men’s singles match against Suppanyu Avihingsanon too went down to the wire. The seventh-seeded Indian won the first game comfortably but the Thai player levelled the match. The decider could have gone either way but Srikanth held his nerve to advance in the competition with a 21-12 15-21 24-22 win. However, India’s campaign ended in the doubles and mixed doubles events. Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy went down 14-21 11-21 against top seeds from China, Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in the round of 16. Sikki Reddy and Pranav Jerry Chopra also met a similar fate, losing 16-21 10-21 to sixth seeds Christinna Pedersen and Mathias Christiansen of Denmark. In the men’s doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy were outplayed by Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi-Lin 9-21 10-21.