Srikanth, Kashyap power into semifinals

Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap carried Indian hopes into the men’s singles semifinals of Indian Open badminton tournament here.

In an engrossing quarterfinal, 2015 champion and third seed Srikanth edged Sai Praneeth 21-23, 21-11, 21-19 in an encounter that lasted over an hour.

In the other last eight clash on Friday, Kashyap entered his first semifinals of a top-tier event in four years. He defeated World No 32 Wang Tzu Wei 21-16, 21-11 and will face second-seeded Viktor Axelsen, who ended the run of HS Prannoy with a 21-10, 21-16 win.

In the women’s singles, PV Sindhu overcame a few errors to defeat eighth-seeded Mia Blichfeldt 21-19, 22-20 and entered the semifinals. Sindhu next plays third-seeded He Bingjao of China, who took out defending champion Beiwen Zhang 21-18, 26-24.

In front of a handsome gathering, Kashyap opened an 11-8 lead. Wang caught up with him at 16-16 but Kashyap broke away with some stellar game from the backcourt to take the opening game.

In the second game, Kashyap fought off initial resistance from Wang to move ahead 11-8 at the interval. On resumption, he pressed the accelerator, by mixing his strokes, to surge ahead 18-11. A smash and drop took Kashyap to the threshold of victory and he closed the match when Wang hit long.

In the all India affair, Sai took a close opening game and opened up 7-1 lead in the second. But Srikanth fought back to move 15-11 ahead. He then reeled off six points to even out things.

It was neck and neck in the decider, with the two players locked at 19-19. Srikanth’s return landed right on the backline to give him a match point, and he made no mistake converting it.

“It could have been anyone’s game,” said Srikanth who next plays China’s Huang Yuxiang. Huang defeated seventh-seeded Khosit Phetpradab 21-16, 21-15.

In the men’s doubles, sixth seeds Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy won an all-Indian quarter-final clash with Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Shivam Sharma 21-10, 21-12. The former national champions are the last Indian pair standing at this prestigious tournament after the 10-21, 18-21 defeat of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy by top seeds Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu in women’s doubles.

Results (Quarterfinals): (Indians unless mentioned):

Men’s singles: Huang Yuxiang (Chn) bt 7-Khosit Phetpradab (Tha) 21-16, 21-15; Parupalli Kashyap bt Wang Tzu Wei (Tpe) 21-16, 21-11; 3-Kidambi Srikanth bt Sai Praneeth 21-23, 21-11, 21-19; 2-Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt HS Prannoy 21-10, 21-16.

Women’s singles: 7-Han Yue (Chn) bt Cheung Ngan Yi (Hkg) 22-20, 21-14; 4-Intanon Ratchanok (Tha) bt Ongbamrungphan Busanan (Tha) 21-18, 21-19; 3-He Bingjiao (Chn) bt 6-Beiwen Zhang (USA) 21-18, 26-24; 2-PV Sindhu bt 8-Mia Blichfeldt (Den) 21-19, 22-20.