Sindhu advances, Srikanth bows out
DUBAI: P V Sindhu notched up a comfortable straight-game win to make it to the knockout stage but Kidambi Srikanth slumped to his second consecutive loss to crash out of the Dubai Superseries Final on Thursday. World No. 3 Sindhu took just 36 minutes to outplay Sayaka Sato of Japan 21-13, 21-12 and register her second straight win.
Sindhu now has two wins from two, same as World No. 2 Japanese Akane Yamaguchi. And both of them have booked a berth each at the knockouts.
However, it was all over for Srikanth as he lost to Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen to bow out. Even though he still has a match left in Group B. Having suffered a defeat to World No. 1 and defending champion Viktor Axelsen in his opening match on Wednesday, Srikanth failed to improve upon his game and went down 18-21, 18-21 against Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen. World No. 7 Chou took 43 minutes to stun the Indian. Srikanth will face Shi Yuqi of China on Friday in his final match.
In-form Shi Yuqi will be hoping to beat Srikanth on Friday, but even if the Indian managed to get the better of the World No. 8 in straight games, it would not be possible for him to make the cut.
Whoever between Axelsen and Chou wins tomorrow will advance to the knockouts as the second player from Group B after Shi Yuqi.
Sindhu, who had defeated Sayaka twice this season, dominated the match from start to finish. After breaking away from a 3-3 tie, Sindhu simply surged ahead and continued to extend her lead to win the first game. The second game was no different as Sindhu never gave her rival a chance to even pose a threat.
However, Srikanth failed to bring out his top game again as he lagged behind from the very beginning. Having conceded a 0-5 lead in the opener, he was always playing catch up game and eventually lost the first game 18-21. Although he put up a better performance in the second game, he could not sustain the momentum till the end. Despite leading 17-14 at one stage, Srikanth allowed his opponent catch him at 17-17.
At 18-18, the Taiwan player reeled off three crucial points to wrap up the match in style.