Kowloon, Nov 15 (UNI) PV Sindhu suffered a 24-26, 22-20 defeat to South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun in the pre-quarter-finals to bow out in the women's singles of the Hong Kong Open World Tour Super 500 here on Thursday.
The 23-year-old Hyderabadi shuttler lost to Sung for the sixth time in her career.
Though, Sindhu put up a brave fight against Korea's Sung in the beginning but the World no 10 overpowered her Indian rival to seal a 26-24 triumph.
Sindhu had outclassed Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol 21-15, 13-21, 21-17 in the first round on Wednesday.
Earlier in the men's single event, Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma advanced to the quarter-finals in the men's singles event.
Fourth-seeded Srikanth, outplayed compatriot HS Prannoy 18-21, 30-29, 21-18 in a thrilling match, clocking an hour and seven minutes.
In another match Sameer, however, qualified for the quarter-finals after his formidable opponent, Chen Long pulled out of the competition due to injury. He will face either Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus or local hope Lee Cheuk Yiu on Friday.
Prannoy, having beaten Srikanth at the Senior National final last year, gave a tough competition before he jumped from 9-9 to a 14-10 lead. Srikanth clawed back at 15-15 before Prannoy again moved ahead to secure the opening game.
In the second game, the duo played out of their skin, giving nothing away. After a close-battle, Srikanth grabbed a slender 11-10 lead at the break, which evaporated soon as Prannoy took a 15-12 lead.
Srikanth will face either Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto or Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen, while Sameer will face either Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus or local hope Lee Cheuk Yiu on Friday.
However, in mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 17-21, 11-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang and Hsu Ya Ching to bow out of the tournament.
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