Fuzhou China Open 2018: PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth lose in the quarterfinals 

It was a disappointing day for the Indian shuttlers as PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the Super Level 750, Fuzhou Open, played at the Haixia Olympic Sports Center, China on Friday.

PV Sindhu lost to He Bingjao of China in a match lasting 1 hour and 9 minutes. The Indian lost to the young Chinese player in the quarterfinals of the French Open last month as well. In the first game, Sindhu began on an aggressive note taking an early 4-1 lead and continued to maintain a lead till 7-3. Bingjao came back strongly to take points in succession to reduce it to only 1 point and then levelled the scores at 9-9. At the interval, Sindhu led 11-9. After the interval, the Chinese player took 2 points to level the scores at 11-11. Both players took alternate points till 14-14 before Bingjao played with aggression and won the first set 21-17.

The second game began with both players taking alternate points till 4-4. Sindhu played aggressive badminton and made life tough for Bingjao. At the interval, the Indian led 11-7. After the interval, Sindhu continued to maintain the lead before Chinese player tried to make a comeback. Sindhu won the second set 21-17 and force the match into a decider.

In the deciding set, Bingjao played aggressive badminton right from the start and did not allow Sindhu to play her natural game. At the interval, the Chinese led 11-6. After the interval, Sindhu made a brilliant attempt to come back into the game and reduce the margin to 15-16 in favour of Bingjao. However, the Chinese played aggressive badminton winning third set 21-15 to move into the semi-finals.

Kidambi Srikanth lost to Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in two straight games. The first game started with both players taking alternate points till 4-4. Srikanth played aggressive badminton and took a 9-6 lead. However, came back strongly to level the scores at 10-10. At the interval, Chou led 11-10. After the interval, Srikanth Kidambi made a lot of unforced errors and as a result, Chou won the first set 21-14.

In the second game too, Chou played aggressive badminton and put pressure on Srikanth. The Chinese Taipei player took a commanding 9-4 lead. At the interval, Chou led 11-8. After the interval, Srikanth tried to make a comeback but unforced errors by the Indian allowed Chou to win second set 21-14.

With this loss, the Indian challenge came to end in singles. Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will feature in their doubles quarterfinals match today.