Indonesia Masters: India campaign over after Kidambi Srikanth loses against Anders Antonsen in semifinals

India’s campaign at the Indonesia Masters Super 750 badminton tournament came to a disappointing end on Saturday after Kidambi Srikanth suffered straight-game defeat in the men’s singles semifinals against Anders Antonsen.

Srikanth was outplayed by third seed Antonsen of Denmark. Srikanth, who had beaten compatriot HS Prannoy in the quarterfinals, lost 14-21 9-21 to Antonsen in 41 minutes in the men’s singles semifinals.

The former world number one Indian was able to hold on Antonsen initially, levelling the scores at 3-3, 4-4, 5-5 before falling behind. Srikanth made another fine recovery in the first game, narrowing down the gap to 12-11 but eventually lost steam.

In the second game also, both were tied at 4-4 but the Dane took eight straight points to zoom to 12-4. The Indian could not recover from there while Antonsen never let his guard down to win the second game and the match.

PV Sindhu also crashed out in the women’s singles semifinals after losing to Japanese top seed Akane Yamaguchi. Even though Sindhu had a superior 12-7 head-to-head record against the Japanese shuttler going into the tie, having won both the meetings between the two this year, the Indian was no match for her rival, losing 13-21 9-21 in a one-sided duel that lasted just 32 minutes.

Sindhu, seeded third, was not at her usual best and trailed her Japanese opponent from the start in both the games. In the second game, Sindhu had a brief lead before Yamaguchi dominated her rival throughout to seal the issue in her favour.

The Japanese will now play the winner of the other semifinal between fourth seed An Seyoung and Thailand’s Phittayaporn Chaiwan.