Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu lost to defending champion Tai Tzu Ying while K.Srikanth and HS Prannoy made it to the quarter finals of the of the Indonesia Open in Jakarta on Thursday.
Kidambi Srikanth, defeated compatriot Lakshya Sen and Prannoy overcame NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong in the second-round matches.
Sindhu, 14th in the BWF world rankings, lost in straight games 21-18, 21-16 to world No.3 Tai Tzu Ying at the Istora Senayan Sports Arena. It was her s 19th defeat against the Chinese Taipei player in 24 head-to-head meetings.
Tai Tzu Ying raced off the blocks to take a 17-10 lead in the opening game but Sindhu, fought back to reduce the deficit to 19-17. The Indian shuttler,
However, couldn’t sustain the pressure and eventually lost the opening game.
The second game turned out to be an intense affair with the lead changing hands multiple times. But just when Sindhu seemed to be in the driver’s seat with a 16-14 lead, Tai rallied to win seven consecutive points and wrapped the match up in 39 minutes.
Earlier in the day, Commonwealth Games champion Srikanth defeated Lakshya Sen 21-17, 22-20 to set up a quarter-final clash against reigning All England champion Li Shi Feng of China. Li Shi Feng defeated Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew, a former world champion, in his round of 16 clash.
The two Indians were engaged in a close fight in the opening game. With the scores tied at 17-17, however, Srikanth stepped up to pocket the final four points and took the lead.
The second game saw Srikanth taking a 20-14 lead but Lakshya Sen saved an astonishing six match points to draw level ar 20-all. Srikanth, though, once again stepped up under pressure to close out the match in 45 minutes. With the win, Kidambi Srikanth extended his head-to-head record against his junior compatriot to 3-0.
Prannoy, ranked 9th in the BWF world rankings, also progressed to the quarter-finals with a 21-18, 21-16 win over world No. 16 NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong. The Indian will next play world No. 4 Kodai Naraoka of Japan next.
The doubles team of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy also made the final eight after defeating China’s He Jing Ting and Zhou Hao Dong 21-17, 21-15.
