Singapore Superseries: PV Sindhu sets up quarter-final clash with Carolina Marin; Kidambi Srikanth advances

Singapore: Top Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth and Srikanth Kidambi advanced to the quarterfinals of the USD 350,000 Singapore Super Series after posting hard-fought victories in the women’s and men’s singles respectively.

Rio Olympic silver medallist, Sindhu, who clinched the India Open earlier this month, had to toil hard before prevailing 19-21 21-17 21-8 over Indonesian World No. 27 Fitriani Fitriani in a match that lasted an hour at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Sindhu will take on Carolina Marin in the quarter-final on Friday.

Praneeth, who reached the finals at Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in January, produced a gritty performance to see off China’s Qiao Bin 21-15 21-23 21-16 in an hour and 12 minutes.

The World No. 30 Indian Praneeth will clash with eighth-seeded Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand next.

Kidambi staged a brilliant fightback from a game down to beat Ihsan Maulana 18-21, 21-19, 22-20 and will face fifth seed Shi Yuqi of China.

Elsewhere, B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, who reached the finals at Lucknow in January, eked out a thrilling 17-21 21-17 21-16 win over Korean pair of Jae Hwan Kim and Lee So Hee to also reach the quarterfinals.

The Indian pair will take on third-seeded Chinese combo of Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong.