Malaysia Open: Srikanth in quarters; Kashyap, Saina, Sindhu ousted

Kuala Lumpur: Newly crowned Indian national badminton champion Kidambi Srikanth continued his impressive run to enter the quarter-finals while Parupalli Kashyap, Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu lost their second round matches at the $500,000 Malaysia Open Super Series Premier here Thursday.

World No.38 Srikanth, who beat Hong Kong’s World No.11 Hu Yun Wednesday, upset South Korean World No.17 Wan Ho Son 11-21, 21-19, 21-19 in a marathon men’s singles match which lasted an hour and nine minutes at the Putra Stadium.

The Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold winner, who had a 1-0 record against Son, kept his nerves to eke out the closely fought second and third games after losing the first. The 20-year-old will next take on seasoned campaigner and World No.4 Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia.

But India’s top ranked male player Kashyap went down 18-21, 15-21 to third seed Dane Jan O. Jorgensen.

Elsewhere, eighth seed Saina was upset by Chinese World No.25 Xue Yao in 56 minutes with Xue winning 16-21, 21-10, 21-19 in their first-ever career meet. After sharing the first two games, World No.8 Saina led in the initial part of the decider (10-8) but thereafter Xue not just clawed back but took a significant 18-14 lead.

The Olympic bronze medallist fought back to equalise at 19-all but Xue maintained her calm to win the next two important points to clinch the game and match, proceeding to the quarter-finals.

Sindhu, on the other hand, was ousted by South Korean sixth seed Yeon Ju Bae on Court 1. The World No.7 Korean won 21-16, 21-19 in 45 minutes to take a 2-0 lead in career meetings over the Hyderabadi.

IANS