Singapore Open: Sindhu in semis; Saina, Srikanth, Sameer ousted

PV Sindhu

PV Sindhu survived a scare before making the semi-finals but Saina Nehwal was thoroughly outplayed in her straight-game quarter-final loss on a mixed day for India at the Singapore Open badminton tournament here yesterday.

Sindhu, in fact, emerged as the lone survivor after India's campaign in men's singles was over following the ouster of Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma, and loss of mixed doubles Indian pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy later in the day.

Rio Games silver-winner Sindhu defeated World No. 18 Cai Yanyan of China 21-13, 17-21, 21-14 to set up a meeting with former world champion Nozomi Okuhara. The second-seeded Okuhara, hailing from Japan, didn't break much sweat on her way to a 21-8, 21-13 win over sixth seed Saina, a bronze-medallist at the London Olympics.

In men's singles, Srikanth's struggle against Kento Momota continued as he suffered his ninth straight loss to the Japanese top seed, going down 18-21, 21-19, 9-21. Sameer Verma, a World No. 16 lost 10-21, 21-15, 15-21 to second seeded Chinese Taipei Chou Tien Chen. In mixed doubles, Pranaav and Sikki suffered a 14-21, 16-21 loss to third seed Thai pair of Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai.

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