India’s P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal entered the women’s singles semi-finals, while Kidambi Srikanth lost in the men’s singles quarter-finals of the World Badminton Championships here on Friday.
Saina, 12th seed, fought off home favourite and 16th seed Kirsty Gilmour 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 in an hour and 14 minutes to assure India of at least a bronze medal.
Saina, who was playing her seventh consecutive quarter-finals at the World Championships, reached the semi-finals for the second time in the prestigious tournament.
Saina, the 2015 World Championships runner-up, will face Japanese seventh seed Nozomi Okuhara on Saturday for a place in the final.
Okuhara ousted two-time defending champion Carolina Marin of Spain with a 21-18, 14-21, 21-15 victory in an hour and 33 minutes.
Continuing her good run, India’s P.V. Sindhu won her quarter-finals match against fifth seed Sun Yu of China 21-14, 21-9 in.A
She will now take on Chen Yufei of China, who continued her winning run by beating eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 14-21, 21-16, 21-12.
Sindhu began the match on a positive note, opening up a 3-0 lead. The Chinese clawed her way back and reduced the gap to one point.A
With the score reading 5-4 in Sindhu’s favour, she won six straight points to win the lead 11-4 at the break.A
After play resumed, the story continued with Sindhu steamrolling her way towards winning the first game.A
Sun Yu tried to stop the juggernaut but could not do much as Sindhu raced to win the opening game 21-14.
After the change of ends, Sindhu continued her good run to take an 8-4 lead. The Chinese had no answer for Sindhu’s precision play and made too many errors allowing Sindhu to go into the break 11-4.A
The World No.4 resumed from where she left and Sun Yu tried to launch a comeback but Sindhu maintained her stronghold and opened up a huge lead.A
Sun Yu tried delaying the inevitable but Sindhu eventually sealed the match 21-9 to march into the semi-finals.A
“Well I am happy with the way I have played today and I am pleased with the results. Even though I won, I must admit that Sun Yu is not an easy player to play against and the last time I played against her I lost to her (In Dubai 2016),” Sindhu said after the match.
“I am happy with the performance today. I went on the court thinking I need to give my best and play my game. Last time I played her I lost to her in Dubai. It wasn’t easy and each point was important to me, even although I was leading,” she added.
Commenting about her next encounter with Chen, Sindhu said: “She is a good player and she is playing well. It is never easy in the semi-final of a World Championship, anything can happen. I have to be prepared for everything.”
In the other match, Srikanth was beaten by top seed Son Wan Ho of South Korea 21-14, 21-18 in 48 minutes.
Srikanth never looked in the contention in the first game as the South Korean star outplayed him in every department. But in the second game, Srikanth gave some fight before surrendering.
Five-time winner Lin Dan also defeated Wong Wing Ki Vincent to reach the semi-finals.
The 33-year-old player defeated the 12th-seeded Wong from Hong Kong 21-17, 21-18.
The 2008, 2012 Olympic champion will now face top seed Son Wan Ho of South Korea, who beat Srikanth earlier.