Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Former world champion PV Sindhu and Paris Olympic semi-finalist Lakshya Sen reached the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Masters after securing easy wins in their respective second-round matches. While Sindhu clinched a 21-19, 21-18 win over Line Kjaerfeldt of Denmark in her pre-quarterfinal in 43 minutes, Lakshya secured a 21-10, 21-11 win over Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan in a match that lasted over half an hour. This was Sindhu’s sixth win over Kjaerfeldt in seven meetings, with the only loss coming in last year’s Sudirman Cup.
Sindhu will next face tournament top seed and world No. 4 Chen Yu Fei of China. The duo have met 13 times so far, with the Chinese holding a slight edge at 7-6 in the overall record. On Wednesday, two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu, India’s highest-ranked women’s singles player at 13th, beat Japan’s world No. 35 Manami Suizu 22-20, 21-18 in 53 minutes to reach the pre-quarterfinals.
On the other hand, Lakshya, who registered a 21-13, 16-21, 21-14 win over world No. 23 Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei in his opening-round match will next face Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul of Thailand, who upset 2024 Paris Olympics Lee Zii Jia 15-21, 21-17, 21-8 in the quarter-finals. Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, who reached the round of 16 with a 21-15, 21-23, 24-22 victory over Japan’s Koki Watanabe, will be in action later in the day against Chou Tien Chen of Taipie. Anmol Kharb, meanwhile, takes on Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the women’s singles second round. World Championships bronze medallist HS Prannoy and rising star Tanvi Sharma crashed out of the BWF Super tournament after losing their first-round matches.
