Malaysia Masters: Sindhu, Prannoy through to semifinals, Srikanth bows out

India shuttler PV Sindhu returns to China’s Zhang Yi Man in Kuala Lumpur yesterday

Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy advanced to the women's and men's singles semi-finals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament with hard-fought wins over their respective opponents here on Friday. While double Olympic medallist Sindhu, seeded sixth in the tournament, beat lower ranked Yi Man Zhang of China 21-16, 13-21, 22-20, Prannoy earned a 25-23, 18-21, 21-13 win over Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the quarter-finals.

India's HS Prannoy during his match against Kenta Nishimoto of Japan. Pics/Getty Images

PV plays Tunjung

Sindhu faces seventh seed and World No. 9 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia in the semi-finals on Saturday. Tunjung upset second seed Yi Zhi Wang of China in the quarter-finals 21-18, 22-20. Tunjung has been in fine form recently and Sindhu had lost to her in the Madrid Spain Masters final in straight games in April. The Indian will, however, go into the semi-finals with a 7-1 head-to-head advantage over Tunjung.

Also Read: Sindhu, Srikanth, Prannoy storm into Malaysia Masters quarters

Adinata test for Prannoy

World No. 9 Prannoy faces qualifier Christian Adinata, ranked 57, of Indonesia, who beat Kidambi Srikanth 16-21, 21-16, 21-11 in another quarter-finals, in the semi-finals on Saturday. Prannoy has never played against the 21-year-old Adinata, who began playing at the senior level just last year. For World No. 13 Sindhu, it was a revenge of sort for her Round of 32 loss to Zhang, ranked 18th, in the All England Open earlier this year. She had also beaten her Chinese opponent in the same tournament last year.

The first game was an intriguing one. Sindhu found herself on the back foot as she trailed 0-5, but she made a fine recovery and made the score 10-all. After that, Sindhu led all through and clinched the first game 21-16. In the second game, Zhang learnt her lessons and did not allow Sindhu to come back unlike in the first. From 2-all, it was Zhang who led all through till the end to make the tie 1-1.

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