Indian senior shuttler Kidambi Srikanth overcame a high-spirited challenge from his compatriot Lakshya Sen to claim a spot in the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open 2023. In the Round of 16 match that had lasted for 45 minutes, Srikanth played strong from the start and never allowed his opponent to grow with confidence, defeating him in straight games by a scoreline of 21-17, 22-20. Both Indian shuttlers had come into the encounter with good winning momentum on their side. Sen had defeated former World No.2 Lee Zii Jia in straight games 21-17, 21-13, while Srikanth played long rallies to beat China’s Lu Guang Zu 21-13, 21-19.
Srikanth will take on Chinese Li Shifeng in today’s (June 16) quarterfinals. The match was evenly poised from the start but Sen edged past his compatriot and had a slender 11-10 lead at the halfway mark in the opener. Once the match restarted, the 30-year-old Srikanth took the lead but both the shuttlers kept on trading points. However, Srikanth allowed Sen to creep into the contest by making a couple of errors, making it 17-17 in the opening game. But the former World No.1 held the fort to get back into his groove and earned four straight points to seal the first game.
The second game was also a very tight affair from the start, with both players making it hard and never allowing one another to get the lead. The scores were level 10-10 in one situation before the 21-year-old Sen once again claimed the lead heading into the halfway mark. And the same forced Srikanth to dig deep into his arsenal and progress strongly taking a six-point lead in the second game to make it 20-14 and be on the cusp of victory.
But the young Sen fought with a never give up attitude and refused to give up the contest. He then produced an impressive run to level things up and put the game on a knife edge. However, as luck favors the brave it was Srikanth’s day as he clinched victory and advanced to the last eight stage.
Meanwhile, it was a bad day for the two-time Olympic winner PV Sindhu as the Indian top-seed crashed out of the Indonesia Open 2023 after losing to Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying in straight games. Sindhu went down by 18-21, 16-21 against Tzu Ying in the Round of 16. Tzu Ying will face Spain’s Carolina Marin in the quarter-finals.
