Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag enter China Masters quarterfinals

Shenzhen (China), Sep 18 (PTI) Star Indian shuttler P V Sindhu and the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty sailed into the quarterfinals of the China Masters tournament with straight-game wins here on Thursday.

Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, took just 41 minutes to get the better of sixth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 21-15 21-15 while the pair of Satwik and Chirag, who recently reached the Hong Kong Open final, aced the Chinese Taipei duo of Hsiang Chieh Chiu and Wang Chi-Lin 21-13, 21-12 in 32 minutes.

By virtue of the win, Sindhu, ranked 14th, improved her head-to-head record against the Thai shuttler to 6-5.

Sindhu will meet top seed An Se Young of Korea in the quarterfinals. An Se edged past Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark 23-21, 21-14.

Sindhu, who had exited the recently-concluded Hong Kong Open in the first round, was delighted with the straight-game victory and said she was alert from the start against her Thai opponent.

"I am happy with the win and it was very important for me from the beginning to be alert and give my 100 per cent. She (Chochuwong) is a top player. I played her in the Indonesia Open; that time also it was a hard match. After winning the first game, I was much more alert in the second game," the Indian said after the match.

"The points were going equal so it was very important for me to stay close to her as every point counts. I am happy that I am on the winning side and I gave my best.

"I have to prepare for tomorrow now. It's good that if you win the first game you finish it off in the second game. Straight wins always give you that confidence. But you also have to be prepared for long matches and make sure that you are quicker on your feet," she added.

Sindhu said the key to winning matches where there is strong air-conditioning drift is to control one's shots.

"It's (drift) always there, every tournament there is wind but it is important that you have control. But sometimes it's very hard to control." Sindhu is currently working along side Indian women's singles coach Irwansyah Adi Pratama, the former men's singles coach of the Indonesian badminton team.

She said the association is slowly and steadily showing results.

"It's very good (working relationship). He is a very good coach. Initially when we started, obviously we knew it will take time. We coordinated and figured out what needs to be done and changed. As a coach he is giving his best efforts, and as an athlete it's my duty also," she said.

Satwik-Chirag in quarterfinals =================== Eighth seeded Satiwk and Chirag, who recently broke a string of early losses to make the Hong Kong Open final, beat the lower-ranked Chinese Taipei pair for the second time this year.

They had defeated Chiu and Wang in three tough games at the Hong Kong Open Super 500 tournament in the round of 32 earlier this month.

The first game was completely dominated by the Indian duo, once ranked No.1 in the world, taking an early 7-2 lead before pocketing the game in less than 15 minutes.

The second game too went on expected lines with the Indians leading from start to finish. They will take on Ren Xiang Yu and Xie Haonan of China, who are ranked 30th in the world, in the quarterfinals. PTI AM AM PDS PDS