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The top Indian badminton trio of PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth had a day to remember at the Indonesia Masters 2019 as all three of them made it to the quarter-finals of this Super 500 tournament going on in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday.
A day after staving off a stiff challenge from the 2012 Olympic gold medallist Li Xuerui, BWF World Tour Finals champion PV Sindhu needed just 37 minutes to breeze past former junior world champion Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 23-21, 21-7.
After edging the young Indonesian in a tight first game, the World No. 3 just ran away with the second game to set up a blockbuster quarter-final showdown with the fifth seed Carolina Marin. The Spaniard reached the final of the Malaysia Masters last week and would surely present a tough proposition for the India No. 1.
2017 runner-up Saina Nehwal booked her place in the last eight with a 21-17, 21-15 victory over the Thailand Masters winner Fitriani Fitriani. Nehwal has started the 2019 season on a positive note by making it to the semi-finals of the Malaysia Masters last week where she lost to Marin. She would be looking for every opportunity to build on that performance.
For her to progress further, she needs to first tackle former Junior World Championships silver medallist Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand.
Men’s singles eighth seed Kidambi Srikanth did not put a foot wrong and blitzed through his second round match with a 21-14, 21-9 victory over World No. 10 Kenta Nishimoto. Up next for him is the reigning Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie.
Srikanth remained unbeaten in the fourth season of the Premier Badminton League which was followed by a quarter-final appearance at the Malaysia Masters last week.
Indian national men’s doubles champions Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy snatched a game but ultimately fell short 14-21, 21-17, 10-21 to the fifth seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.
