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Bali, Nov 20 (IANS) Reigning world champion PV Sindhu and former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the 2021 Indonesia Masters badminton tournament after losing their respective women's and men's singles semi-final matches, here on Saturday.
The 26-year old Sindhu wasn't at her usual best and lost 13-21 9-21 against Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in a one-sided semi-final contest that lasted for just 32 minutes.
The Indian shuttler struggled with keeping her returns in right from the start and she never recovered from an early deficit. On the other hand, Yamaguchi got a great dip on her shots, often catching Sindhu out at the net and as the Japanese shuttler registered a comfortable win.
This was Sindhu's first loss to Akane in 2021. She had earlier beaten her in the All England Open quarter-finals and during her bronze-medal run at Tokyo 2020.
The Japanese shuttler will now face South Korea's An Seyoung as she chases her third World Tour title of 2021.
This was also Sindhu's second-straight loss in the semis at a World Tour event, having lost to Sayaka Takahashi at the French Open last month.
Meanwhile, K Srikanth, who had beaten compatriot HS Prannoy in the quarter-finals, was no match for reigning World Tour Final champion Anders Antonsen. He lost 14-21 9-21 to Antonsen in the men's singles semi-finals, which lasted for 41 minutes.
Antonsen will play Japanese world No 1 Kento Momota in the final as he looks for his fourth World Tour title and first one this season.
--IANS
avn/bsk
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