Tokyo Olympics' bronze medallist PV Sindhu confirmed her place in the Korea Open Super 500 badminton tournament semifinals with a comfortable 21-10, 21-16 win over Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the women's singles quarterfinals in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday.
After conceding an early lead, Sindhu was in command throughout the match. She had already beaten the same opponent at the Swiss Open final last month. Leading 11-7 in the first game, Sindhu managed an eight-point burst to pull away from the Thai and grab a lead in the match.
Not much changed in the second game as well. Sindhu took an 8-2 lead and kept moving ahead as the Thai crumbled to her 17th loss against the Indian shuttler.
Sindhu will now face either Japan's Saena Kawakami or second-seeded Korean An Seyoung in the next round.
Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth also progressed to the semis after a hard-fought victory over Son Wan Ho 21-12, 18-21, 21-12 in the men's singles quarterfinal match.
In a battle between two former world number ones, it was World Championships' silver medallist Srikanth who outwitted the local star in a match that lasted just over an hour.
Srikanth had a 4-7 record against the Korean, having lost to him on the last three occasions. However, the Indian shuttler was the better of the two.
The 29-year-old showed better control, dominating the short rallies and moving into a comfortable 11-6 lead at the first interval. When Son Wan Ho made it 12-14 after the interval, the Indian changed gears to walk away with the first game.
The Korean came back strongly in the second game with a 10-7 lead but Srikanth bucked up to take a 13-11 lead. Fighting for the match, Son Wan Ho didn't let the game slip away and charged ahead to take it to the decider.
Srikanth made a strong 4-0 start in the decider but unforced errors allowed the Korean to make it 4-6. The Indian changed the pace with some quick attacking returns and managed an 11-7 lead at the interval.
A barrage of attacking shots kept Srikanth in the hunt as he extended his lead to 16-10. A precision return eventually got him to eight match points and he sealed it when Son Won Ho hit the net.
The fifth-seeded Indian will next face Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the semifinals.
