Sindhu, Srikanth bow out of China tourney
It was Indian shuttler's third loss to Bingjiao, who had defeated her at the Indonesia Open and French Open in July and October this year.
Fuzhou: Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth were ousted from the China Open World Tour Super 750 on Friday after losing their singles quarterfinals matches here.
While Sindhu yet again struggled to go past China’s He Bingjiao in women’s singles, Srikanth fell in straight-games to world number 3 Chou Tien Chen in the men’s singles event.
Third seeded Sindhu, who clinched three silver medals this season — Commonwealth Games, World Championship and Asian Games — lost 17-21, 21-17, 15-21 to the eighth seeded Chinese.
It was Indian shuttler’s third loss to Bingjiao, who had defeated her at the Indonesia Open and French Open in July and October this year.
Later Srikanth paid the price for being too erratic as he lost 14-21, 14-21, in 35 minutes to Chen, who has been in good form this season with three titles from five final appearances.
Earlier, the left-handed Bingjiao controlled the rallies by executing her strokes perfectly and used her deft touch to outwit Sindhu.
The Indian frittered away a 8-3 advantage early on to lose the opening game but made a roaring comeback in the second before losing the decider after a late charge. Sindhu had started well to take a 4-1 lead early on before moving to 8-3 but Bingjiao managed to claw back at 9-9.
The duo moved neck and neck till 15-15 when the Chinese moved ahead with three straight points.
Sindhu made it to 17-18 before Bingjiao pocketed the opening game.
In the second game, Bingjiao surged to 4-2 but Sindhu turned the tables as she moved to 6-5 and then grabbed a 11-7 lead. She kept distance despite the Chinese snapping at her feet.
Bingjiao was more sure-footed than Sindhu as she executed her plan well to take a 11-6 advantage at the interval. The Chinese managed to eke out a 15-8 lead before Sindhu’s late charge to claw back to 15-16.