Saina defeats Okuhara again, reaches quarters
FRENCH OPEN Srikanth and Sindhu also reach the last eight of the tournament
NEW DELHI: Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth outwitted opponents who have troubled them in recent times to enter the quarter-finals of the $750,000 French Open badminton in Paris on Thursday.
Defending champion Srikanth banished his demons beating world No 25 Lee Dong Keun of South Korea for the first time in three meetings. The Indian fifth seed notched up a 12-21, 21-16, 21-18 victory in a marathon contest lasting an hour and 13 minutes. World No 6 Srikanth has not won a title since his triumph in the Super 750 tournament at the French capital last year.
Srikanth faces a tough opponent next up as he takes on world and Asian champion Kento Momota on Friday. The world No 1 has a 9-3 advantage against the Pullela Gopichand protégé, who has not beaten the Japanese in the last six meetings. Srikanth’s last win over Momota was in the 2015 India Open. In-form Saina displayed superb skills to defeat former world champion Nozomi Okuhara 10-21, 21-14, 21-17 in an enthralling contest between two Olympic bronze medallists lasting an hour and 12 minutes.
This is world No 9 Saina’s second successive victory over the Japanese eighth seed after beating her in the Denmark Open last week. The 2012 French Open finalist extended her career record against Okuhara to 8-4.
The unseeded Indian runs into Chinese Taipei’s world No 1, defending champion and Asian Games gold medallist, Tai Tzu Ying, in a repeat of Sunday’s Denmark Open final. Saina will look to beat Tai for the first time since March, 2013. The Indian has a 5-13 record against Tai, though the reigning two-time Asian champion has won their last 11 contests. The top seed is 5-0 against Saina in 2018.
SINDHU WINS
Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu also booked her place in the quarter-finals of the tournament with a 21-17, 21-16 win over Japan’s Sayaka Sato.
Sindhu started strongly and raced to a 14-7 lead in the first game. Sato, however, bounced back and levelled it at 16-16. Sindhu, however, stepped up a gear and won the next four points before sealing the game 21-17.
The Indian continued to dominate in the second game and took an early 12-4 lead. She later led Sato 17-8, and despite a late fightback from the Japanese, Sindhu managed to close out the game 21-16. In the last-eight, Sindhu will face the winner of the match between South Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun and Chinese seventh seed He Bingjiao.