Changzhou: Top shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth lost their quarterfinal matches on Friday, drawing the curtains on India’s campaign at the USD one million China Open BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament.
After Srikanth was ousted 9-21 11-21 by reigning world champion Kento Momota of Japan, third seed Sindhu went down fighting 11-21 21-11 15-21 to World No. 6 Chen Yufei of China in a hard-fought contest, which lasted 52 minutes.
Sindhu had beaten the 20-year-old Chen four times in their last six meetings but on Friday she couldn’t curb her errors or find a way to break her opponent’s superior game plan.
In the last set, Sindhu showed signs of recovery, pocketing four straight points, which included a crucial video referral, but she hit wide again as the score read 16-12 in Chen’s favour. In the end, Sindhu hit a long shot followed by a return at the net, giving Chen five match points and she sealed it with another powerful smash.
Earlier, Srikanth, who had a 3-7 head-to-head record against Momota, couldn’t find a chink in Momota’s armour and went down without a fight against the world No.2 in a lop-sided contest.
Srikanth had lost to Momota at the Malaysia Open and Indonesia Open in June and July respectively.
The Indian was no match for Momota, who has been in sensational form since making a comeback after serving a one-year ban for visiting an illegal casino.
Momota surged to a huge 19-6 lead before pocketing the first game.
The second game was no different as Momota continued to dominate the proceedings to seal the contest without much effort. (PTI)
