The Indian singles challenge at the French Open came to an end after Kidambi Srikanth, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal faced defeats in their respective matches after all three had advanced to the quarter-finals.
Also read: French Open: Saina Nehwal, Kidmabi Srikanth, PV Sindhu enter quarterfinals
Srikanth, the defending champion succumbed to a defeat in straight sets 16-21, 19-21
at the hands of the world no 1 Kento Momota in the quarter-finals. It was just last week that the Japanese ace had defeated Srikanth in the semi-finals of the Denmark Open. This was the fifth time that Srikanth lost to Momota this year.
Sindhu’s slump continued since that silver medal at the Asian Games as she faced a crushing loss to China’s He Bingjiao 13-21, 16-21. The world no 2 now trails 5-7 in her head-to-head record against Bingjiao courtesy this straight game loss which is her second loss after the Indonesia Open in July.
Also read: Denmark Open: Kidambi Srikanth beats Lin Dan to enter into the quarter-finals
The Hyderabadi shuttler was knocked out in the first-round of the Denmark Open just last week. In the Japan Open, Sindhu could only progress to the second round before being ousted by Gao Fangjie.
Saina meanwhile couldn’t break her jinx against Tai Tzu Ying as she lost 20-22, 11-21, despite being in a strong position at one point of time. This was her 12th consecutive loss against Tzu Ying.
But the duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty still held India’s hopes alive as they defeated their senior counterparts Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy 21-17 21-11.
Image credit (Saina Nehwal)-Bloombergquint
Image credit (PV Sindhu)- Badminton Planet
Image credit (Kidambi Srikanth)- India Today