Sindhu, Srikanth enter Malaysia Masters semis

Penang (Malaysia), Jan 22: Top Indian shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth earned straight game victories to enter the semifinals of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold at the Spice Arena here on Friday.

A former winner here, double World Championship bronze medallist Sindhu played a clean game to beat old foe Lindaweni Fanetri and enter the women’s singles semis.

Third seed Sindhu took less than half hour to beat her Indonesian opponent 21-10, 21-10 in the quarter-final to better her record to 8-2 against Lindaweni. This was the World No.12’s sixth straight win over Lindaweni.

Sindhu, who won the event here in 2013, will next play the winner of the match between South Korean top seed Sung Ji Hyun and Japanese fifth seed Sayaka Sato.

Later, men’s singles second seed Srikanth needed just 33 minutes to move past China’s Huang Yuxiang 21-15, 21-14 in the quarterfinals. This was the first contest between the two.

World No.9 Srikanth will face Malaysian Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin in the last four clash on Saturday against whom the Indian has a 1-0 record.

Ajay Jayaram will play his men’s singles quarter-final later in the day. (IANS)