Sindhu, Srikanth lose in China Open quarter-finals
CHANGZHOU: PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth lost their quarter-final matches on Friday, drawing the curtains on India’s campaign at the $1 million China Open BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament here.
After Srikanth was ousted 9-21, 11-21 by reigning world champion Kento Momota of Japan, third seed Sindhu went down fighting 11-21, 21-11, 15-21 to World No. 6 Chen Yufei of China in a hardfought contest, which lasted 52 minutes.
Sindhu had beaten the 20-yearold Chen four times in their last six meetings but on Friday she couldn’t curb her errors or find a way to break her opponent’s superior game plan.
In the opening game, Chen opened up a 6-3 lead. The Chinese produced some stunning strokes to grab a 11-5 lead with a powerful return which the Indian had no answers.
After the break, Sindhu took two points but there was a weak return at the net and another stroke went out. Sindhu’s errors, coupled with Chen’s superb placements, saw the Chinese move to 15-7.
Chen dictated the pace and punished any error from the Indian, who went out a few times. Eventually the Chinese sealed the game with a sharp smash.
After the change of ends, Sindhu tried to engage her opponent in rallies by varying the pace and it worked, as she led 6-1.
However, mental fatigue seemed to affect her judgements as Chen narrowed the lead to 5-6. The Indian extended the lead to 15-10 and eventually took the game.
In the decider, Chen stepped up the pace after an initial burst of points from Sindhu to lead 7-4. Chen maintained the three-point advantage at the breather.
Chen returned with a barrage of strokes on Sindhu’s backhand and, aided by the Indian’s errors, moved to a 14-8 lead.
In the end, Sindhu hit a long shot followed by a return at the net, giving Chen five match points and she sealed it with another powerful smash.