Madrid Spain Masters: Kidambi Srikanth, PV Sindhu enter quarterfinals

Two-time Olympic medallist, Sindhu dispatched Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonasia 21-16, 21-14 in a little over half an hour to enter her first quarterfinal in 2023.

World no. 21 Srikanth, on the other hand, pulled off a 21-15, 21-12 second-round win over compatriot B Sai Praneeth. Second seed Sindhu has been struggling for form this season since returning to action following a long injury lay off. It is the first time in 2023 that the 27-year-old former world champion has crossed the second round.

Sindhu, who has dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since November 2016, will take on 25-year-old Danish Mia Blichfeldt in the last eight stage of the Super 300 tournament.

While World no. 21 Srikanth, seeded fifth, has a tough contest ahead of him as the former world No. 1 is pitted against top seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the quarterfinals.

Nishimoto was handed a walkover by France’s Arnaud Merkle in their second-round contest.

Kiran George, Priyanshu Rajawat and Sameer Verma crashed out of the men’s singles event after suffering second-round defeats.

While George went down to Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen 17-21, 12-21 in 31 minutes, Rajawat was outplayed 14-21, 15-21 by eighth seed Toma Junior Popov of France. Verma suffered 15-21, 14-21 defeat against second-seeded Japanese Kanta Tsuneyama.

In women’s singles, Ashmita Chaliha went down 15-21, 15-21 to Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min while Malvika Bansod gave walkover to top seed and home favourite Carolina Marin.

Later in the day, Aakarshi Kashyap will play her second-round match.

The men’s and women’s doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila and Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil will also be in action.