Kidambi Srikanth exited the competition after losing 14-21 21-14 12-21 in one hour and nine minutes to world No.10 Feng.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India advanced to the men’s doubles semifinals of the Indonesia Open World Tour Super 1000 tournament here on Friday after defeating top seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in straight games. However, world championship silver medalist Kidambi Srikanth withdrew from the men’s singles tournament after losing a hard-fought quarterfinal match to China’s Li Shi Feng. Srikanth, the first Indian to enter the court, fell 14-21 21-14 12-21 in one hour and nine minutes to world No. 10 Feng. The victory allowed Feng to regain parity in their head-to-head record against Srikanth, which is at 1-1.
Satwik and Chirag, the seventh seed, then played a faultless game to defeat Indonesia’s Alfian and Adrianto 21-13 21-13 in 41 minutes.
Satwik and Chirag will face the winner of the quarterfinal match between Min Hyuk Kang and Seung Jae Seo of Korea and Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin of Indonesia.
Despite taking longer to get off the blocks in the first game of the fight between Srikanth and Feng, the Chinese came out on top.
World No. 22 Srikanth took an early 2-0 lead but Feng responded with five consecutive points, with the Indian committing too many unforced errors.
The early advantage was all Srikanth could muster, as his Chinese opponent improved throughout the match to take an 11-7 lead at the half.
Feng’s court coverage and anticipation were far superior than his opponent’s, who committed several errors at the net.
With the exception of a few flashes of his former self, Srikanth appeared entirely out of sorts as Feng extended his advantage, executing drop strokes with accuracy and body smashes to easily win the first game.
After a tight first game, Srikanth came back in style with superb smashes and wore out his Chinese opponent by playing from front to back of the court to grab an 11-6 lead.
Srikanth focused on his aggressive play near the net to collect points and finally won the second game to tie the game.
However, Srikanth was unable to maintain his form in the decider, as Feng raced to a five-point lead at the mid-game intermission before receiving medical care on his severely strapped left foot.
The injury had no impact on the Chinese shuttler’s performance, as Srikanth failed to narrow the margin in the third game.
