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It was a good day for Indian shuttlers as Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth moved into the quarter finals of Super Level 750 tournament played at Paris on Thursday. Both Indian players won their respective matches in three sets.
Kidambi Srikanth defeated Lee D-k of Korea in three gruelling sets. It was a great start to the game as the Korean got the first 2 points before Srikanth got 6 points in succession to take a 6-2 lead. Then, Lee D-k came back strongly to level the scores at 8-8. At the interval, the Korean led 11-8. After the interval, the Korean continued his aggressive play and won the first set 21-12.
In the second game, Srikanth got off to a good start, taking an early 4-1 lead. Lee came back strongly to level the scores at 5-5. At the interval, the Indian led 11-7. After the interval, Srikanth played with aggression, and won the second set 21-16 to force the match into decider.
The final game was a close fought one with players taking alternate points till 7-7. Srikanth took 4 points in succession to lead 11-7 at the interval. After the interval, Lee came back strongly to take a 14-13 lead and both players took alternate points till 18-18.
Srikanth held his nerve, winning the third and deciding game 21-18. It was Srikanth's first win over Lee. He will face Japan Kento Momota in the quarter finals.
Like last week in the Denmark Open, Saina Nehwal defeated Okuhara in three gruelling games. The Japanese dominated the first set, and won in 21-10.
The second game was much better for Saina Nehwal, as she took an early 4-2 lead. From 4-4, Saina Nehwal took 6 points in succession to lead 11-5 at the interval. After the interval, the Indian played with aggression, and won the second set 21-12 to force the match into the decider.
Saina played well in the third and deciding game with great smashes, drop shots and placements. At the interval, the Indian led 11-7. After the interval, Saina also held her nerve to win the third set 21-17 to move into quarter finals.
She will face Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the quarter finals.
PV Sindhu will be in action later tonight.
