Srikanth sails to semis, PV sinks

Top seed K Srikanth advanced to the semifinals in men’s singles but P V Sindhu suffered a heartbreak as she bowed out of the women’s singles with a straight-game loss at the USD 120,000 Indonesia Masters Grand Prix Gold tournament here on Friday. 

World No. 9 Srikanth, who has qualified for the BWF Super Series Finals, emerged as the lone Indian survivor as he spanked Malaysia’s Teck Zhi Soo, seeded 15th, 21-10 21-5 in a match that lasted just 24 minutes. The 22-year-old from Guntur, who had defeated China’s Qiao Bin 21-12 21-15 on Thursday, will take on Indonesia’s Ginting Anthony. Two-time bronze medallist at World Championships, Sindhu, who clinched the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold last week, suffered an unexpected 21-23 13-21 loss against He Bingjiao of China in 36 minutes.

Srikanth dished out a superb game as he didn’t allow any chance to Teck to challenge his authority. He opened up 6-0, 5-0 lead in the first and second games and marched ahead without much ado to seal a semifinal place.