Two former badminton world number one Indians, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth, will take the court in Bali on the penultimate day of DAIHATSU Indonesia Masters 2021 Saturday. Don't miss their semi-final matches. (More Badminton News)
Both the matches will be telecast live on Star Sports channels – Star Sports 2 HD and Star Sports 3. The Indonesia Masters live streaming will be available on Disney+ Hotstar. All the matches are being played at Bali International Convention Center in Nusa Dua.
On Friday, PV Sindhu produced a clinical performance to beat Turkey's Neslihan Yigit in the women's singles quarterfinals. The reigning world champion and two-time Olympic medallist took just 35 minutes to wrap up the contest in straight games 21-13, 21-10.
The 26-year-old Indian will face a familiar foe in Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. This will be their 20th meeting in the pro-circuit with the Indian, seeded third in the tournament, leading the head-to-head record 12-7. This is also a replay of the Tokyo Games quarter-final match, which was won by Sindhu (21-13, 22-20).
The PV Sindhu vs Akane Yamaguchi semi-final match is tentatively scheduled to start at 11:30 PM IST.
Top-seeded Yamaguchi fought back from a game down to beat Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand (8-21, 21-12, 21-10) in her quarter-final match to setup a date with Sindhu. The winners of Sindhu vs Yamaguchi will take on either An Seyoung of South Korea or Phittayaporn Chaiwan of Thailand in Sunday's final.
In the men's singles event, unseeded Kidambi Srikanth will meet third-seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark for a place in the final. This will be their fourth meeting, and Antonsen has a 2-1 head-to-head record against the Indian shuttler. Kidambi won their first meeting in 2017, then lost the next two. The last meeting, in the BWF World Tour Finals 2020, lasted one hour and 17 minutes. Antonsen won that match 15-21, 21-16, 21-18.
The Kidambi Srikanth vs Anders Antonsen match is tentatively scheduled to start at 2:10 PM IST.
Both Srikanth and Antonsen registered straight-game wins in their respective quarter-final matches. While Srikanth defeated his Indian compatriot HS Prannoy (21-7, 21-18) in 39 minutes, Antonsen took 46 minutes to dismiss Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand (21-11, 21-17).
In the other semi-final, the top-seeded Kento Momota of Japan faces fourth-seeded Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan.
