SAARBRUCKEN: India's Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the quarterfinals after earning a hard-fought victory against Korea's Dong Ken Lee even as Sourabh Verma crashed out of the Hylo Open Super 500 badminton, here on Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Srikanth had to toil hard for 56 minutes before eking out a 21-9, 19-21, 21-10 win in the pre-quarterfinal.
The match was much closely fought than what the scoreline suggests.
Srikanth will now meet Hong Kong's NG Ka Long Angus, who is seeded third.
However, there was disappointment in store for Indian fans as Sourabh Verma lost to Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharaoen 13-21, 10-21 in 33 minutes.
In the women's doubles, Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy lost to Nita Violina Marwah and Syaikah Putri in straight games in the last-16 clash.
The Indonesia pair won 21-15, 21-16 in just 35 minutes.
Lakshya Sen is pitted against Tzu Wei Wang in another pre-quarterfinal match.
