Indonesia Open 2019: Fifth seed PV Sindhu downs Dane Mia Blichfeldt to reach quarter-final; Kidambi Srikanth ousted in second round

Jakarta: Top Indian shuttler P V Sindhu fought hard to progress to the women’s singles quarterfinals but it was curtains for Kidambi Srikanth in the men’s singles event of the Indonesia Open, here Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_4343971” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of PV Sindhu. Image courtesy: Twitter @BAI_Media[/caption] Sindhu, seeded fifth, had to dig deep into her reservoir of experience as she slugged it out for 62 minutes to beat unseeded Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark 21-14 17-21 21-11 in a second-round encounter. But later in the day, eight seed Srikanth was stunned by NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong 17-21 19-21 in a 39-minute second round contest. Sindhu recorded her third win over the world no. 13 Dane this year. The Indian had earlier defeated Blichfeldt in straight games in the Indian Open and the Singapore Open. Sindhu will next face the winner of the match between Malaysia’s Soniia Cheh and-third seeded Japanese Nozomi Okuhara in the last-eight round of the BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament. The start was far from impressive for Sindhu as Blichfeldt took a 6-3 lead before the Indian got her act together to draw level. From that point, Sindhu raised her game gradually and relied on her long reach and smashes to pocket the first game 21-14. The second game witnessed a tough fight between the two shuttlers but Blichfeldt made a strong comeback to take a 9-5 and then a 10-7 lead. Sindhu then pocketed three straight points to level the scores at 10-10. But the Dane meant business as she took full advantage of the Indian’s unforced errors to clinch the second game and draw parity in the match. The decider, however, turned out to be a one-sided affair as Sindhu got her composure back and ran away with the game after some initial resistance from Blichfeldt. However, it was curtains for India in the men’s doubles event after the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 15-21 14-21 to top-seeded local hopes Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the second round It was disappointment for India in the mixed doubles as well after the pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy lost 14-21 11-21 to top seeds Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong of China.