Orleans Masters: Saina Nehwal wins thriller against Iris Wang to move to semi-finals as Kidambi Srikanth crashes out

Paris: Indian ace Saina Nehwal eked out a thrilling three-game win over USA's Iris Wang to advance to the women's singles semi-finals but Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the men's singles competition at the Orleans Masters badminton tournament in Paris on Friday.

It is the first semi-final in two years for world No 20 Saina, who is desperate to accumulate ranking points to make her fourth Olympic appearance in Tokyo 2020. Her last semi-final appearance was in January 2019 in the Indonesia Masters 500 tournament which she had won.

The fourth-seeded Indian, who had withdrawn from the All England Championships last week due to an injury, had to dug deep to script a 21-19 17-21 21-19 win over world No 36 Wang in a gruelling quarter-final match that lasted exactly an hour.

Saina dished out a compact game as she led 11-5 at the first interval but Wang narrowed the gap to 13-15 after the break. The American reeled off five straight points next to grab a 18-16 lead.

However, Saina sealed the opening game with four straight points.

The second game was a close affair as both the players fought hard before Saina eked out a slender 13-11 lead at the mid-game but a determined Wang pushed ahead and roared back into contest.

In the decider, Saina led 6-4 and then 12-8. The Indian kept her nose ahead despite Wang breathing down her neck. Saina grabbed three match points, wasted two of them before clinching the match.

Former world number one Srikanth, however, cut a sorry figure as he went down 19-21 17-21 to France's Toma Junior Popov in a 31-minute men's singles quarter-final.

Star doubles player Ashwini Ponnappa dished out a superb game as she first paired up with N Sikki Reddy to notch up a stunning 21-14 21-18 win over England's third seeded duo of Chloe Birch and Lauren Smith in women's doubles.

Ashwini then combined with Dhruv Kapila to outwit England's Max Flynn and Jessica Pugh 21-13 21-18 in mixed doubles quarter-finals.

Ashwini and Sikki, world No 25, will face top seeded Thailand combination of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai next in women's doubles.

Ashwini and Dhruv will meet Niclas Nohr and Amalie Magelund in mixed doubles semi-finals.

Newly paired Mixed doubles pair @dhruvkapilaa & @P9Ashwini put up a great performance as they booked their Semi final seats at #OrleansMasters beating 's Max Flynn & Jessica Pugh by 21-13, 21-18.

Very well played#OrleansMasters2021 pic.twitter.com/pEdoNn3mDi

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) March 26, 2021

Young Ira Sharma also was no match for Denmark's Line Christophersen, going down 11-21 8-21 in another women's singles last eight encounter.

Earlier, the Indian men's doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnu Vardhan Goud Panjala outwitted world No 47 French duo of Christo Popov and Toma Junior Popov 21-17 10-21 22-20 in an hour and three minutes to make it to the semi-finals.

The unheralded Indian duo will face England's Callum Hemming and Steven Stallwood for a place in the final on Saturday.

The English pair had ended the campaign of Indian seventh seeds MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila 21-19 18-21 23-21 in the quarter-finals.