Tokyo: PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal crashed out of the $3,25,000 Japan Open Super Series after suffering straight-game defeats in their second round women’s singles matches here Thursday. However, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy kept the Indian hopes alive by advancing to the quarterfinals of the men’s singles.
Playing local favourite and World Champion Nozomi Okuhara for the third consecutive time, Sindhu could not bring to the fore her best game and committed too many errors to go down 18-21, 8-21 in a lop-sided 47-minute contest.
medallist Sindhu squandered a lead of 11-9 and 18-16 in the opening game and looked completely out of sorts in the second game to bid adieu to the tournament.
Saina too squandered a 14-10 lead in the opening game and a 6-4 advantage in the second to go down 16-21, 13-21 to Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain, seeded fifth.
However, World No.8 Srikanth demolished Hong Kong’s Hu Yun 21-12, 21-11 in 29 minutes to make it to the final eight. The Indian will now face the recently-crowned World Champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark against whom he has 2-2 record.
Srikanth was at his dominating best using the angles of the court very deftly to trouble the Hong Kong player. He dictated the pace of rallies and was at his best with the net dribbles. He built up early leads in both the games and did not allow much of a leeway to his opponent.
“It was a good match. He (Yun) can be very dangerous if you give him the chance to dictate the pace, so I wanted to play very consistent,” said Srikanth after his match.
In another match, Prannoy managed to upstage Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Jen Hao 21-16, 23-21. He will now play against second seed Chinese Shi Yuqi.
World No. 2 Shi staved off a challenge from Sameer Verma 10-21, 21-17, 21-15 in another match.
Among others, the mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy played their heart out before losing 27-29, 21-16, 12-21 to Indonesian fourth seeds Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto in a match that lasted 66 minutes.
Sindhu led 6-2 early on but Okuhara closed the gap to 8-9 before Sindhu went into the break with an 11-9 advantage.
However, things changed after the break as the Japanese tightened her game and unforced errors started to affect Sindhu. On return to the court, Okuhara won six points in succession to build up a 15-11 lead. From then onwards it was just downhill for Sindhu.
At a glance
Kidambi Srikanth bt Hu Yun 21-12, 21-11
HS Prannoy bt Hsu Jen Hao 21-16, 23-21
Sameer Verma lost to Shi Yuqi 10-21, 21-17, 21-15
PV Sindhu lost to Nozomi Okuhara 18-21, 8-21
Saina Nehwal lost to Carolina Marin 16-21, 13-21
Press trust of India
