Kidambi Srikanth became the first major casualty of the 2018 India Open badminton tournament while Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu easily booked their quarter-final berths in the Siri Fort Sports Complex on Thursday.
Second seed Srikanth, who was the favourite to add to his five superseries titles on his home turf, failed to win the crucial exchanges against qualifier Iskandar Zulkarnain of Malaysia and lost 21-19, 21-17.
Zulkarnain, who lost over six months last year due to a slip disc and is still looking to find his feet on the international circuit, ensured that he kept the shuttle long in play to push his Indian opponent into making mistakes.
The Malaysian was quick off the blocks and took a 5-1 lead but Srikanth came back to level the scores at 6-6. But the Indian struggled with consistency and he twice allowed to Zulkarnain to build a size-able lead before making a comeback.
Srikanth saved three game points in the opening game before the Malaysian converted the fourth but the fightback was enough to raise the hopes of the small crowd cheering the Indian.
And he raised the hopes further when he took a 5-2 lead in the second game and it looked like Srikanth was beginning to play his attacking game. However, Zulkarnain showed his tenacious side by retrieving shots that could have otherwise been noted down as winners to put pressure back on his opponent.
Trailing 14-16 in the second game, he claimed six straight points and then converted the second when Srikanth hit the shuttle wide to book a last eight clash against another Indian Sameer Verma.
Speaking about the match, Srikanth said he was always aware of Zulkarnain’s retrieving ability and was prepared for that. “But today he came up with some unbelievable returns from difficult angle. It wasn’t that I played badly but I couldn’t capitalise on crucial points,” said Srikanth, who was playing his first tournament of the season. “I am happy that I am finally fit and looking forward to playing more tournaments,” he added.
Zulkarnain, who now has a 2-2 head-to-head record against Srikanth, was happy that his comeback is going in right direction and hoped that he can build on it further. “I am pushing myself to get good results after the injury,” said the 26-year-old, hinting that it was his last shot at trying to make a mark on the international circuit.
Easy for Nehwal, Sindhu
However, there were no such problems for Nehwal and Sindhu as they stayed on course for a possible summit clash. Sindhu packed off Bulgaria’s Linda Zetchiri 21-10, 21-14 while Nehwal defeated Denmark’s Line Kjaersfeldt 21-12, 21-11 in the second round.
Top seed Sindhu will now face Spain’s Beatriz Corrales while Nehwal takes on Beiwen Zhang of USA in the quarter-finals.
Also advancing to the next round was Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth, who defeated Hong Kong’s Hu Yun 21-10, 21-15 to set up a last eight clash against third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.
Olympic champion Carolina Marin had a bit of a scare before she overcame Chinese teenager Gao Fangjie 15-21, 21-15, 21-11 in an hour and 23 minutes. Marin’s opponent in the quarter-finals will be sixth seed Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong who handed a 21-4, 21-7 drubbing to Thailand’s Thamolwan Poopradubsil.
Big win for Ashwini-Satwik
Earlier in the day, Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy upset world number 11 combination of Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing of Malaysia to reach their first quarter-finals of a major tournament. The duo blew four match points in the decider and ultimately won the one hour nine-minute encounter 21-16, 15-21, 23-21.
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