K. Srikanth continued his fine form to enter the men’s singles semifinals but Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu and defending champion Saina Nehwal bowed out of the Australian Open Superseries badminton tournament here on Friday.
In the all-Indian quarterfinal duel, Srikanth came out on top with a fighting 25-23, 21-17 win over Sai Praneeth.
Srikanth, who had edged out World No.1 Son Wan Ho en route his title triumph at the Indonesia Open last week, will face fourth seed Yuqi Shi of China in the last four round.
However, it was curtains for Sindhu, who failed to get the better of World No. 1 and top seed Tai Tzu Ying of the Chinese Taipei for the seventh time in her career.
Sindhu squandered a game’s advantage to go down 10-21, 22-20, 21-16 in a thrilling quarterfinal contest that lasted exactly an hour.
Saina went down fighting 21-17, 10-21, 21-17 against sixth-seeded Sun Yu of China in an encounter that lasted 78 minutes.
The results (quarterfinals): Men: K. Srikanth bt Sai Praneeth 25-23, 21-17.
Women: Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe) bt P.V. Sindhu 10-21, 22-20, 21-16; Sun Yu (Chn) bt Saina Nehwal 21-17, 10-21, 21-17 .
