Canadian Victor Lai: India's Kidambi Srikanth stunned world No. 9 Canadian Victor Lai to reach the men's singles quarter-finals at the China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament on Thursday.
Former world No. 1 Srikanth, the 2021 World Championships silver medallist, registered a straight-games win, 21-18, 21-19, over the Canadian, a bronze medallist at the last two BWF World Championships, here at Shenzhen Arena.
Srikanth continued his strong run in China after a confident start to the tournament. He defeated Chinese Taipei’s World No. 21 Chi Yu-jen 21-16, 21-15 in just 35 minutes in the opening round. He will face Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong, who beat World No. 9 Toma Popov in the Round of 16.
Earlier, Lai had sent Lakshya Sen through the round of 32 to set up a meeting with Srikanth, who defeated Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei in straight games.
This is Srikanth's second quarter-final of the season, after the former world No. 1 finished runner-up at the US Open in June.
Meanwhile, Tanvi Sharma has been knocked out after losing to Tomoka Miyazaki 17-21, 21-18, 16-21. Tanvi's loss ended India's challenge in the women's singles.
In the mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also suffered a loss at the hands of Liu Kuang Heng and Hsu Yin-Hui of Taipei.
Later in the day, the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will take on the Frenchmen Cristo Popov and Toma Junior Popov.
World No. 5 Indian men’s doubles pair started with a 21-11, 21-16 win over Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Kang Khai Xing in 40 minutes.
Later in the day, the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will take on the Frenchmen Cristo Popov and Toma Junior Popov.
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In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde were defeated 21-16, 21-18 by Chinese Taipei’s Wu Guan Xun and Lee Chia Hsin.