World No 3 PV Sindhu and world No 16 HS Prannoy are the only two Indians still alive in the All England Open after the second round on Thursday, as Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and Pranaav Chopra and Sikki Reddy were all eliminated.
Sindhu had to play a three-gamer for the second straight day as she was stretched by Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol in the second round. Sindhu won the first game comfortably 21-13 after controlling play throughout and by the end of that game it seemed as if she totally had Jindapol’s number.
However, the world No 11 turned it around in the second game and took the attack to the Indian, not letting her control play and eventually winning it by a similar scoreline. The see-saw contest continued in the third game as Sindhu again took a lead before the interval only to see the Thai claw her way back.
Jindapol then took a sizeable 16-12 lead in the decider when it looked like there was no way back for Sindhu from there. However, the Rio Olympics silver medalist dug in and won five straight points to take the lead. She won the third game 21-18 to seal a quarter-final berth, where she will play her nemesis Nozomi Okuhara.
Later in the day, Prannoy beat Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto 21-10, 21-19 to enter the quarter-finals. The Indian won the first game easily but the second was not so straightforward as both players exchanged leads many times before Prannoy prevailed.
These were to be India’s only two victories on the day as newly promoted world No 2 Srikanth went down to China’s Huang Yuxiang 11-21, 21-15, 20-22 in a tight match. Like usual, Srikanth took his time to get going and lost the first game without much fuss. He turned it around in the second to force a decider.
The third game was a humdinger as both players stepped into sixth gear. However, unlike his first-round match against Brice Leverdez, Srikanth could not overcome his opponent in the end as he lost it 20-22.
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj and Chirag lost to second seeds Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen but not before giving the Danes a good fight. The Indian pair lost 16-21, 21-16, 21-23 after battling it out for over an hour. There wasn’t to be any such battle in the mixed doubles match of Pranaav and Sikki as they were beaten easily by second seeds Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping 6-21, 10-21.
Meanwhile, legends Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan will add another chapter to their storied rivalry after setting up a quarter-final clash. In the women’s singles, Carolina Marin and Akane Yamaguchi will also battle it out, giving Sindhu versus Okuhara some competition.