P. V. Sindhu and the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the quarterfinals of the China Masters Super 750 tournament on Thursday, notching straight-game victories.
Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, defeated world number six Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 21-15 21-15 in 41 minutes, levelling their head-to-head record at 6-5. She next faces world number one An Se Young of South Korea, who has won all seven of their previous meetings.
“It was very important for me from the beginning to be alert and give my 100%,” Sindhu said. “Straight wins always give you confidence, but you also have to be prepared for long matches.”
The 29-year-old, who suffered a first-round exit at the Hong Kong Open last week, also highlighted the challenge of air drift inside the Shenzhen venue.
In men’s doubles, world number three duo Satwik and Chirag beat Taiwan’s Wang Chi-lin and Chiu Hsiang-chieh 21-13 21-12 in 33 minutes. They will face China’s Ren Xiang Yu and Xie Haonan next.
“It was a really good win,” Chirag said. “Confidence has been key, and slowly we are getting back to where we want to be.”
Satwik added that the pair had sharpened their approach after errors in Hong Kong. “Today we focused on the first four strokes — serve and receive — and that made the difference.”
India have never won the China Masters title in either singles or doubles.
