Sindhu, Srikanth in Malaysian Open semis

 Kuala Lumpur: P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth continued their impressive run at the Malaysia Open, progressing to the semifinals of the women's and men's singles competition with straight-game wins in the USD 700,000 world tour super 750 tournament here today. 

In a clash between Olympic silver and gold medallists, it was Sindhu who emerged victorious with a 22-20, 21-19 result in a 52-minute quarterfinal match here. The 22-year-old Sindhu, who won a silver at the Glasgow World Championship, will face world number one and top seed Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying tomorrow.

Earlier fourth seed Srikanth, who won a silver medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, dumped world no 22 France's Brice Leverdez 21-18 21-14 in a 39-minute clash at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil, a suburb in Kuala Lumpur. 

The Indian had also beaten the French in three games at All England Championship this year. The 25-year-old will take on former world no 2 and 2015 world championship bronze medallist Kento Momota, who has been in sensational form ever since making a comeback after serving a one-year ban by Japan Badminton Association for gambling at an illegal casino in 2015.

In the women's singles match, Sindhu started the proceedings with a sharp smash and moved to a 3-1 lead early on but Marin clawed back. Sindhu again opened a slender two-point lead which evaporated quickly. 

As has been the norm, Sindhu and Marin continued to fight it out as leads changed hands too frequently. A solid defence saw Sindhu grab three match points. She blew two points before unleashing a cross-court smash to seal the contest in 52 minutes.

Earlier, Srikanth erased a 5-8 deficit to grab a 11-9 lead at the break. Leverdez clawed back at 12-12 but the Indian again marched ahead to grab a 17-14 advantage. 

The French drew parity at 17-17 before Srikanth surged to pocket the opening game. In the second game, Srikanth and Leverdez fought till 5-5 before the Indian first grabbed a 11-5 lead and then kept his nose ahead to comfortably shut the doors on his rival.