Sindhu in quarters, Srikanth loses in Denmark Open

Odense (Denmark), Oct 21:  Sindhu in quarters, India's PV Sindhu has reached the women's singles quarter-finals of the Denmark Open on Thursday, beating Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan in three well-fought games at the Odense Sports Park here.

However, India suffered a setback as Kidambi Srikanth could not progress beyond the second round in men's singles, going down to top seed and World No 1 Kento Momota after putting up a tough fight in the first game. Srikanth lost 21-23, 9-21 to the Japanese star in a match that lasted 43 minutes.

Sindhu, playing her first tournament since winning the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympic Games in August, won the first game but lost the second before prevailing over the Thai player in a close decider to win in 67 minutes in the second round encounter.

The 26-year-old Indian from Hyderabad, who is seeded fourth here, eventually won 21-16, 12-21, 21-18 to reach the last-eight stage where she will take on South Korea's fifth-seeded An Seyoung. The Korean player beat Russia's Evgeniya Kosetskaya in two games, 21-9, 21-11.

Sindhu is ranked seventh in the world while Busanan is 13th. The Indian started aggressively against the 25-year-old from Nonthaburi, Thailand, and established an early lead. She kept up the pressure as the Thai player tried to keep up with the pace and strokes of Sindhu.

The Indian won eight consecutive points at one stage as she wrapped up the game on her second game point.

The second game went the Thai player's way from the start as she jumped into the lead and maintained her advantage throughout. Sindhu made some unforced errors which allowed the Thai player to take control of the game.

The decider was a lot closer and both players fought for each point before Sindhu opened up a four-point lead. She maintained the edge and went on to seal victory at 21-18.