Kidambi Srikanth's 13-match winning run came at an abrupt halt as he lost 14-21, 18-21 in to World No. 1 Son Wan Ho in the quarterfinals of the World Championships in Glasgow on Friday. Meanwhile, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal both reached the semifinals of the women's singles thereby assuring them both of a medal at the Worlds.
Sindhu beat fifth seed Sun Yu comprehensively 21-14, 21-9 while Saina had to fight her way to defeat Kirsty Gilmour 21-19, 18-21, 21-15.
Nervous Srikanth's dream run ends
Having lost both his previous matches against Srikanth this year, 29-year-old Son made a concerted effort to be more aggressive in the initial exchanges and opened up a 6-1 lead, continuing in the same vein to win the opening game in 20 minutes. Srikanth looked to be jittery and nervous from the outset as even though he leveled scores at 6-6, it was all one-way traffic from there as Son led for the remainder of the first game.
Down a game, Srikanth seemed to continuously struggle with the drift as he netted several points and committed unforced errors, trailing 5-16 in the second game. The match started taking a U-turn as glimpses of Srikanth's on-court brilliance were seen soon after, with the Indian gaining momentum to score seven back-to-back points to move up to 12-16.
Things started looking up for the current World No. 10 as he attempted successful jump smashes -- his trademark shot -- and crosscourt smashes to narrow the lead down to two points at 17-19. However, the gap proved to be the main woe as Srikanth then missed a net kill at that point and Son converted his first match point opportunity to win the match in 48 minutes.
Srikanth has been the most successful Indian badminton player this year, winning back-to-back titles at the Indonesia Open and the Australia Open. He is currently ranked no. 1 in the BWF Destination Dubai rankings, that are meant to select the contenders of the year-ending Dubai World Finals where the top 8 players in the world are chosen to compete.
Sindhu dominant in win
It took fourth seeded Sindhu only 39 minutes to see off her fifth seeded opponent. This will be Sindhu's third medal at the Worlds, having won bronze in 2013 and 2014. She will now face China's Chen Yufei, the junior world champ who has already beaten top seed Akane Yamaguchi on her way to the semi-finals.
Sindhu was quick to take a 3-0 lead before a few unforced errors let Sun Yu back in it at 4-3 in the first game. From then on Sindhu upped her game, racing to a 13-4 lead using accurate drop shots and cross court smashes. At 16-6 down, Sun gained some momentum to win four straight points to make it 16-10, but failed to recover against Sindhu's aggression, losing the game in 19 minutes.
The second game started just like the first, with Sindhu taking an early 4-0 lead. Sun's nerves resulted in multiple errors, further boosting Sindhu's confidence. At 16-7, she looked visibly jaded while Sindhu remained in control to complete the win in just 39 minutes.
Saina fights her way to the last four
Saina Nehwal had to fight hard against Kirsty Gilmour but her dominance at the end proved decisive. Assured of a medal just like Sindhu, she will next meet Nozomi Okuhara, who beat two-time champion Carolina Marin in their quarterfinal match.
In the first game, Saina led 4-1 and then 8-5 but still allowed Gilmour to make a comeback. Gilmour's aggression worked and she levelled at 8-8 and then won the next six points too. Down 8-14, Saina stayed cautious and slowly worked to reduce the deficit to just one point at 16-17. At 18-18, Gilmour hit Saina's serve into the net and handed the advantage over to the Indian. A well-executed drop shot from the local player saw the score tied at 19-19. But then two errors from Gilmour gave the first game to Saina.
Gilmour took an early lead in the second game and though the score was level at 8-8 at one stage, the momentum swung back in her favour on the back of deceptive cross-court smashes. At 17-11 the Scot was running away with the game before a final push from Saina made things tight. A tired Gilmour got a warning from the umpire for not being ready for a Saina serve, but eventually crossed the line to take the game 21-18.
In the deciding game, Saina was aggressive from the start and raced to a 4-0 lead. Leading 7-2 and then 14-8, she placed her smashes to perfection and took full advantage of Gilmour's sloppy play. Towards the end, Saina had to strain to keep the lead but mostly had the game under control and rallied her way into the last four.