India star shuttlers PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament after defeating their respective rivals.
Double Olympic medallist Sindhu beat Aya Ohori of Japan in straight games in women’s singles. On the other hand, Prannoy prevailed over Shi Feng Li of China in a difficult three-game men’s singles match. Later in the day, Srikanth registered a win against India Open champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand.
World No. 13 and sixth-seeded Sindhu extended her domination over Ohori, ranked 28th when she took the court first. She beat her Japanese rival for the 13th time in as many meetings, In the round of 16 game that lasted for 40 minutes, Sindhu won straight sets21-16, 21-11. She will lock horns with China’s Yi Man Zhang in the quarterfinals.
World No. 9 Prannoy beat world No. 11 to seal his berth in the last-eight stage. In the match that lasted for one hour and 10 minutes, Prannoy lost the first set. However, he made a strong comeback to win the next two games. He defeated Li 13-21, 21-16, 21-11. Prannoy will next face Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in the quarterfinals. Nishimoto has clinched victories in the 2022 Japan Open and Spain Masters this year.
Coming into the match with a 0-3 head-to-head record, Srikanth registered a straight-sets win in a close match. He registered a win by 21-19, 21-19 over Vitidsarn to also make it to the quarterfinals. He will next meet Indonesian qualifier Christian Adinata.
Lakshya Sen, however, lost to Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong and bowed out of the competition. He ended his campaign with straight sets loss against Angus 14-21, 19-21.
