Sindhu and Saina withdraw from the German Open; Srikanth triumphs.

Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy of India advanced to the quarter-finals of the men's singles event, but P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal of India were knocked out of the women's competition after second-round losses in the German Open Super 300 badminton tournament here on Thursday.Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala of India went to the last eight in men's doubles. Srikanth, who is seeded eighth here, defeated China's Lu Guang Zu 21-16, 21-23, 21-18 in a second round match to set up a meeting with Olympic champion and top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, who defeated France's Toma Junior Popov 21-17, 21-10 in another match.Prannoy, a former world number eight, also put forth a valiant effort to defeat Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-19, 24-22 in a gripping match. He'll play the winner of India's Lakshya Sen vs. Indonesia's fourth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting. Sindhu, the 2019 World Champion and two-time Olympic medalist, was knocked out in the second round of the women's singles by China's Zhang Yi Man 14-21, 21-15, 14-21 in 55 minutes.

Saina, who has been dealing with fitness difficulties, was no match for eighth seeded Thai Ratchanok Intanon, losing 10-21, 15-21 in a lopsided encounter. In men's doubles, Krishna and Vishnuvardhan defeated compatriots Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sai Pratheek K in an hour and three minutes, winning 23-21, 16-21, 21-14. Srikanth, who had to withdraw from the India Open after testing positive for COVID-19, had to dig deep to beat his world No. 27 opponent in a nail-biting encounter that lasted an hour and seven minutes.The Indians got off to a fantastic start, leading 8-3 early on, but Lu made a late charge, and Srikanth was only able to make it to the break at 11-10. After a 14-14 tie at the halftime break, Srikanth took the lead with a four-point burst to win the first game. After falling behind early on, Srikanth managed to take a 15-11 lead in the second game, but Lu fought hard for every point and eventually seized the game after saving a match point to stay in the game.Srikanth was 10-5 up in the decider, and though Lu cut it to 15-14 at one point, the Indian soon regained control and shut the door on his opponent to extend his head-to-head record to 3-0.Sindhu, who will be one of the contenders at next week's All England Championships, had a dismal start to the European leg earlier in the day. The Indians were unable to get going, as Zhang broke the tie at 5-5 and went on to score six unanswered points to take an 11-5 lead. She kept her head down and snatched the first game with ease.Sindhu, who had been stung by the reversal, mounted a comeback in the second game, fighting her way to a small 11-10 lead at halftime and then progressively marching ahead to get back into the match. The Chinese, on the other hand, found her stride in the final, moving away after an initial tussle to take an 11-8 lead at the break. After that, she didn't give the Indian much of a chance and quickly shut the door on her favoured opponent.