India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy And chirag shetty entered the men’s doubles quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open World Tour Super 1000 event after defeating top seeds Fajar Alfiyan and Muhammad Riyan Ardianto in straight games on Friday. In the men’s singles, HS Prannoy defeated Japan’s Kodai Naroka in the quarterfinals, while World Championship silver medalist Kidambi Srikanth, however, crashed out of the men’s singles competition after losing to China’s Li Shi Feng in the last eight.
Kidambi Srikanth out
Kidambi Srikanth lost 14-21, 21-14, 12-21 to the world number 10 in a hard-fought match that lasted one hour and nine minutes. With this victory, Feng avenged the previous defeat against Srikanth. In two matches between the two players, both have registered one win each. The seventh seeded pair of Satwik and Chirag did not have much trouble in defeating the men’s doubles pair of Indonesia. The Indian pair won the 41-minute match 21-13 and 21-13.
Indonesia Open 2023: Kidambi Srikanth beats Lakshya Sen in quarterfinals, Olympic medalist PV Sindhu out
Prannoy will face a tough challenge in the semi-finals
Satwik and Chirag will face the winner of the quarter-final between Korea’s Min Hyuk Kang and Seung Jae Seo and Indonesia’s Leo Roli Karnando and Daniel Martin in the semi-finals. In the last match of the day for the Indian players, Prannoy defeated third seed Naroka 21-18, 21-6. In the semi-finals, Prannoy will face the winner of the last eight match between top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Tien Chen Chou of Chinese Taipei.
A close fight between Srikanth and Feng
Both Srikanth and Feng, ranked 22nd in the world rankings in men’s singles, are unseeded in the event. Srikanth took a 2-0 lead in the opening set but then made a series of unforced errors to pay the price. The Chinese player took an 11-7 lead at the break in the first game. Feng continued to lead after this and won the first game easily. The beginning of the second game saw an equal contest between the two players but Srikanth soon regained his old rhythm and took an 11-6 lead at the break.
Srikanth lost in the third game
Srikanth continued to play aggressively and won the game. However, he could not maintain this momentum in the third game and Feng took an 11-6 lead. During the break, the Chinese player needed medical help. After this, he landed on the court with a bandage on his left leg, but there was no decrease in his game. Feng won the third game by a huge margin of 21-12 to book a semi-final berth.
