It was a great day for Indian shuttlers at the office on day 3 of the Australian Open Super Series. With all the singles players in the fray sailing through to the quarterfinals, the Indian contingent is looking strong.
The Men’s Singles:
To start off with the proceedings, the Indonesian Open champion Kidambi Srikanth was up against the Korean Son Wan-Ho. This was the second meeting between them in two consecutive weeks. Last time around it was Srikanth who outplayed Wan-Ho to enter the Indonesian Open finals. Today was no different as the Indian defeated the World No. 1 again to qualify for the quarterfinals. The match lasted for 57 minutes, turning into Srikanth’s favor with a scoreline of 15-21 21-13 21-13.
Following Srikanth was his counterpart B. Sai Praneeth who marched on to the round of 8 stage. Praneeth upstaged Huang Yuxiang by 21-15 18-21 21-13, a player hailing from China.
The Women’s Singles:
In the ladies, it was the Olympic silver medalist P. V. Sindhu beating Chen Xiaoxin to move onto the next round. It was a comfortable win for the 5th seed against her Chinese opponent in straight sets – 21-13, 21-18.
Saina Nehwal wasn’t too far behind as she also won her round-2 game against the Malaysian Soniia Cheah by 21-15 20-22 21-14.
However, it was a disappointing day for the women’s doubles team of Ashwini Ponappa & Sikki Reddy. They crashed out of the tournament after facing a straight-set defeat from the 7th seed Japanese pair of Koharu Yonemoto and Shiho Tanaka. Whereas, the men’s doubles team had a similar fate as their female counterparts. The Indian pair Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy was ousted in straight sets by the 8th seed team of Chinese Taipei.
What’s in store for Day 4 of Australian Open?
A cracker of a match is in store on Day 4 as compatriots Kidambi Srikanth and B. Sai Praneeth will lock horns in the men’s singles quarterfinals. This will a rematch of the Singapore Open Final where Praneeth clinched the trophy outshining the World No. 22. Srikanth will look to avenge his loss and bank upon his recent form to move further in the tournament. This is surely going to be a fantastic game of badminton.
P. V. Sindhu will face a stiff challenge against the World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying from Chinese Taipei in their quarterfinal meeting. Expect it to go down to the wire as each player will try to put in their best performance. Whereas Saina Nehwal – the Olympic bronze medalist will fight for the semi-final berth against the sixth seed Chinese Sun Yu.
Another match-up to watch out would be the battle between Chen Long and Lin Dan. Both of them have been Olympic and World Champions in the past. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in this all-Chinese affair.
Here is wishing our players all the very best for their matches. Hope they continue their impressive run on the path to glory.
