French Open Superseries: PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth reach quarters; Saina Nehwal loses to Akane Yamaguchi

Paris: Title-contenders PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth stormed into the quarter-finals but World Championship bronze medalist Saina Nehwal’s run in the French Open ended with a straight-game loss at the $325,000 Superseries event on Thursday. Young Indian doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, ranked 32nd, later stunned World No 6 Danish combo of Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding to reach their second quarter-final of the season. [caption id=“attachment_4179005” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PV Sindhu of India in action. Getty [/caption] Olympic silver medallist Sindhu dumped Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi 21-14, 21-13 to set up a revenge match against China’s Chen Yufei. The World No 10 Chinese had knocked Sindhu out in the opening round at Denmark Open. World Championship silver medallist Sindhu had defeated Spain’s Beatriz Corrales 21-19, 21-18 in the opening round match on Wednesday. Srikanth, who was crowned the Denmark Open champion last week, saw off Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent 21-19, 21-17 in a 37-minute match. The Indian had beaten Wong in the semi-finals at Denmark Open last week. In the opening match, the World No 8 had emerged victories after his opponent Fabian Roth of Germany retired at 0-3. In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj and Chiragdished out another superb performance as they shocked the 2016 European champions Conrad-Petersen and Kolding 22-20, 12-21, 21-19 to reach the quarter-finals. The duo, who had reached the quarters at Korea Open as well, had disposed off Frances Bastian Kersaudy and Julien Maio 21-12 21-14 in 30 minutes in the opening round. Former World No 1 Saina, however, failed to get across Japans World No 5 Akane Yamaguchi, losing 9-21 21-23 in a 39-minute clash second round clash. This is her second loss to the fifth seeded Japanese in two weeks. Saina had lost to Yamaguchi in the quarter-finals at Odense. Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy lost 16-21 14-21 to top seeded Japanese Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi in women’s doubles. Sindhu had the match in control as her opponent could grab a slender lead at 9-8 only once in the opening game, while in the second game the Japanese never could topple the Indian. In the other women’s singles, Yamaguchi, who had finished as runners-up at Odense last week, tore through the opening game, leading from start to finish to earn the bragging rights. Saina regained her composure in the second, producing a gallant fight as she kept nipping at her opponent’s heels, despite being 7-11 down at the break. The Indian caught up with the Japanese at 19-19 and had also grabbed a game point at 20-19 but Yamaguchi managed to stay ahead.