Sindhu seals knockout berth

Dubai, December 14 

World No. 3 PV Sindhu registered her second straight victory to advance to the knockout stage of the Dubai World Superseries Finals here today. 

Sindhu took just 36 minutes to ease past Japan’s Sayaka Sato 21-13 21-12. Sindhu, who had defeated world No. 15 Sato twice this season, dominated the match from start to finish.

Sindhu, who beat China’s He Bingjiao yesterday, will meet Sayaka’s compatriot, world No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi, in her third and final Group A match tomorrow.

Akane beat Bingjiao 21-14 13-21 21-8 in the other Group A match today. With two wins from two matches each, Sindhu and Akane will advance from the group.

Srikanth loses again

Kidambi Srikanth slumped to his second consecutive defeat after losing to Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in straight games, crashing out of the event.

Even though Srikanth still has a match left in Group B, he has virtually no chance of making the next stage.

Srikanth, who lost to world No. 1 and defending champion Viktor Axelsen yesterday, failed to improve and went down 21-18 21-18 in the $1 million event. World No. 7 Chou took 43 minutes to get past his world No. 4 opponent. After falling behind 0-5, Srikanth played catch-up before losing the first game.

Although he put up a better performance in the second game, Srikanth could not sustain the momentum till the end. Down 14-17, Chou fought back with three straight points. At 18-18, Chou reeled off three points to wrap up the match in style.  

Srikanth will face All England Open finalist Shi Yuqi of China tomorrow.

Shi, who defeated Chou in his opening match, eked out a 13-21 21-18 21-17 win over Axelsen today. — Agencies