Madrid Spain Masters: Sindhu, Srikanth enter quarterfinals

Madrid: Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth moved entered the quarterfinals of the Madrid Spain Masters tournament with straight-game wins here on Thursday.

Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu dispatched Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia 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.

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 and Priyanshu Rajawat crashed out of the men's singles event after suffering second round defeats.

While Kiran went down to Denmark's Magnus Johannesen 17-21, 12-21 in 31 minutes, Rajat was outplayed 14-21, 15-21 by eighth seed Toma Junior Popov of France.