Indonesia Masters: Sindhu, Srikanth fall in semis

P V Sindhu
P V Sindhu failed to get past Akane Yamaguchi. File photo: AFP

Bali (Indonesia): Double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the Indonesia Masters Super 750 badminton tournament after suffering straight game defeats in the women's and men's singles semifinals respectively to bring the curtains down on Indian campaign here on Saturday.

Sindhu lost to Japanese top seed Akane Yamaguchi while Srikanth was outplayed by third seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark.

Even though Sindhu had a superior 12-7 head-to-head record against the Japanese shuttler going into the tie, the Indian was no match for her rival, losing 13-21, 9-21 in a one-sided duel that lasted just 32 minutes.

Sindhu, seeded third, was not at her usual best and trailed her Japanese opponent from the start.

In the second game, Sindhu had a brief lead before Yamaguchi dominated her rival throughout to seal the issue in her favour.

Srikanth, who had beaten compatriot H S Prannoy in the quarterfinals, lost 14-21, 9-21 to Antonsen in 41 minutes in the men's singles semifinals.

The former world No. 1 was able to match Antonsen initially, levelling the scores at 3-3, 4-4, 5-5 before falling behind. Srikanth made another fine recovery in the first game, narrowing down the gap to 12-11 but eventually lost steam.

In the second game also, both were tied at 4-4 but the Dane took eight straight points to zoom to 12-4. The Indian could not recover from there while Antonsen never let his guard down to win the second game and the match.

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