Indonesia Open: Kidambi Srikanth bows out, P.V Sindhu cruises

Defending champion Kidambi Srikanths campaign ended with a narrow openinground loss but Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu eked out a thrilling win to progress to the womens singles prequarterfinals of the USD 1250000 Indonesia Open here todayFormer World No 1 Srikanth suffered his second successive loss to inform Japanese Kento Momota ranked 11th in two weeks The Indian lost 2112 1421 1521 in the opening match that lasted exactly an hour at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Momota had ended Srikanths campaign at Malaysia Open last week and even though the Indian failed to avenge the loss it was a far superior performance by the 25yearold fourth seedOverall it was Srikanths seventh loss to the former world no 2 Momota who has been in impressive form since coming back from a oneyear ban due to illegal gamblingHowever Sindhu brought some smiles back in the Indian camp after seeing off Thailands Pornpawee Chochuwong 2115 1921 2113 setting up a clash with Japans Aya Ohori on the eve of her 23rd birthday tomorrowIt was a good win today It was the first match and after winning the first game in the second at 1919 I made easy mistakes but then I won the third game comfortably so happy with my performance Tomorrow I will be playing Aya Ohori whom I had played at Malaysia too so I hope I give my best tomorrow Sindhu said after the match Among other Indians young Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka went down 1221 1021 to Denmarks Line Hojmark KjaersfeldtThe mens doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy stretched the world no 2 Chinese pair of Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan to three games before surrendering 2115 1521 1721 to the third seeded combo In mixed doubles Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy lost 1221 1421 to fourth seeded pair of Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong of China In the womens singles match Sindhu was asked some serious questions by the 20yearold Pornpawee as she grabbed a slender 1110 lead at the first intervalThe Indian seemed to struggle with her timing initially but two cross court smash and a misjudgment at backline by her opponent helped Sindhu to lead 1413 Sindhu showed great defence and seemed to have stepped up her pace as she soon moved to 1914 and brought up five game point chances after attacking her opponents backhand A disguised shot ended the opening game in Sindhus favourSindhu seemed to struggle with the length of her strokes as she hit long and short to allow Pornpawee control the second game early on The Thai girl moved to a 72 lead but Sindhu recovered well to first claw back at 1010 with six straight points and then entered the interval with a onepoint advantage when the Thai hit the net Pornpawee turned the table by making it 1513 before moving to 1916 when Sindhu found the net But the Thai blew the advantage as the Indian gained three straight points including a goodlooking smash to claw back at 1919A superb rally ensued next which left Sindhu sprawled on the court as it was game point advantage for Pornpawee The Indian then hit the net and the Thai shuttler was back in the contest The duo split the initial 10 points in the decider before Sindhu managed to open up a 85 lead The Indian held a fourpoint advantage after he unleashed a straight smash to enter the breatherSindhu continued to use her experience to outwit the Thai shuttler and won a net duel to make it 1811 Two wide shots and it was the eight match points for Sindhu Pornpawee saved one before Sindhu unleashed another smash to seal the contest Earlier Srikanth who was beaten in straight games by Momota in Kuala Lumpur last week came out with all guns blazing and moved to a 1910 lead and then grabbed 10 game points with a smash Momota saved two game points before hitting the net as Srikanth earned the bragging rightsIn the second game Momota moved to a 30 lead early on before a patient Srikanth clawed back at 55 with a superb stroke at the net Despite some stiff resistance from the Indian the lefthanded Japanese managed to enter the break with a slender 119 lead after producing a powerful smash on his opponents backhand A few mistimed strokes from Srikanth and the game slipped away as he lagged 1117 before Momota held seven game points and roared back into the contest when Srikanth again found the netIn the decider Momota produced some razorsharp returns to move to a 85 lead A brilliant adjustment at the net gave Momota another point as he moved to a 116 lead After the breather Srikanth cut down the deficit to 1012 and then 1416 But Momota was unstoppable as he soon grabbed five match points and converted it without further adoCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the 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