Sindhu seals semis spot: Saina, Srikanth out of Singapore Open

Sindhu emerged as the lone survivor after India’s campaign in men’s singles was over following the ouster of Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma. Mixed doubles Indian pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy lost its match-up too. 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.

It is Sindhu’s second semi-final of the season, having made a final four finish at the India Open last month. 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. In men’s singles, Srikanth’s struggle against Kento Momota continued as he suffered his ninth straight loss to the Japanese top seed.

He went down 18-21 21-19 9-21 in 66 minutes to end his campaign with yet another quarter-final finish. Sameer, World No. 16, battled for an hour and nine minutes before losing 10-21 21-15 15-21 to second-seeded Chinese Taipei player Chou Tien Chen. In mixed doubles, Pranaav and Sikki suffered a 14-21 16-21 defeat to Thai pair of Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai to bow out of the World Tour Super 500 tournament.

Sindhu broke off at 5-5 in the opening game to earn the bragging rights. But her Chinese rival came back strongly in the second game, opening up a 11-6 lead at the break. The Indian fought back superbly to narrow the deficit to 15-16 before Cai marched ahead to take the match to the decider.

In the third game, Sindhu once again found her bearings and surged to a 11-5 advantage. The Indian continued to move ahead and closed out the match comfortably in the end. In contrast, Saina fell apart against her Japanese opponent in a lop-sided clash.