PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy sailed into the semifinals of the Malaysia Masters BWF Super-500 tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. While Sindhu registered a hard-fought 21-16, 13-21, 22-20 victory against Zhang Yi Man of China, Prannoy defeated Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 25-23, 18-21, 21-13.
Kidambi Srikanth crashed out, losing to Indonesian youngster Christian Adinata 21-16, 16-21, 11-21. This is only the second Super-500 semifinal for the 21-year-old Adinata, who will face Prannoy on Saturday.
Nishimoto was on a high after ousting third seed Jonathan Christie in the second round and gave Prannoy a tough time in the first two games. Prannoy saved three game points from 17-20 to sneak past Nishimoto in the first.
But the Japanese shuttler came back strongly in the second. From 12-11, he won five points to make it 17-11. Prannoy used some precise cross-court drives and good defence to reduce the margin to 17-18. Nishimoto involved the Indian in long rallies and collected the important points to push the match into the decider.
Despite playing with a heavily taped left knee, Prannoy was impressive in the third game. Prannoy needed some medical attention but secured a 11-5 lead a t the mandatory change of courts. Nishimoto scored three quick points after the break and looked good. At 11-8, Prannoy won two crucial points and four more at 13-10 to seal the issue. Weng Hong Yang of China also reached the semifinals from the other half of the draw.
Sindhu, who has been struggling to get it right for the last few months, survived tense moments to prevail over Zhang. After losing the second game, Sindhu led her rival for most part of the third and was just one point away from victory at 20-17. But Zhang saved three match points and pushed the Indian into a tight spot.
At 20-20, Zhang made a service error and hit the next shuttle wide off the court to hand over the much needed victory to Sindhu. The world No. 13 Indian will face world No. 9 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung. Though Sindhu enjoys a 7-1 win-loss record, Tunjung beat the Indian at the Madrid Masters in April.
Record rally in women's doubles
The Malaysian pair of Thinaah Muralitharan and Pearly Tan and the Japanese duo of Rena Miyaura and Ayako Sakuramoto were involved in a record 211-shot rally in the quarterfinals. The Malaysian duo won the match 21-17, 18-21, 21-19.
