PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth enter quarter finals of China Open 2018

Changzhou, September 21: The recent China Open 2018 edged India’s two important gems PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advancing to the quarter-finals of China Open 2018 as both their Round of 16 matches against Thailand shuttlers stretched to three games in Changzhou on Thursday.

While Sindhu came back from behind to win the match, Srikanth was forced to battle even harder as his Thai opponent Suppanyu Avihingsanon took the match to the very edge in the deciding game. PV Sindhu overcame a stiff challenge from Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-23, 21-13, 21-18 to set up a quarter-final meeting with either Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea or China's fifth seed Chen Yufei.

Srikanth, on the other hand, staved off a late surge by Avihingsanon to win 21-12, 15-21, 24-22 in an hour and three minutes and will face the shuttler of the hour Japan's Kento Momota in the quarters. While India's singles campaign stayed on course, the doubles campaign got over as all three doubles combination in fray lost to their respective opponents.

Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy lost 16-21, 10-21 to the sixth seed Danish combination of Mathias Christiansen and Christina Pederson in 40 minutes in Round 2 of mixed doubles. Right after that, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy were completely outplayed in their men's doubles Round 2 match against Chinese Taipei's Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi-Lin and lost 9-21, 10-21 in just 24 minutes.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa always had a huge hill to climb in their mixed doubles Round 2 match against world No.1 Chinese pair of Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong and went down 14-21, 11-21 in 28 minutes.

Sindhu looked tired in her match against Ongbamrungphan as she also struggled to find the lines. Even though her Thai opponent played very skillfully, it was Sindhu's mistakes that allowed the match to go so close.

Though Ongbamrungphan took the first game, PV Sindhu took control of the match thereafter and played some quick strokes and with sharp angles to win her rallies. The change of side also looked like it worked for Sindhu as she began to find her lines and she comfortably took the second game.