Kidambi Srikanth suffers straight-game defeat, bows out of Denmark Open in pre-quarterfinals

Former champion Kidambi Srikanth bowed out of the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament after suffering a straight-game defeat to Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the pre-quarterfinals here on Thursday.

Srikanth lost to the seventh seeded opponent 13-21 15-21 in a match that lasted 35 minutes.

Srikanth, the 2021 World Championships silver medallist, had won the title here in 2017. He had a head-to-head record of 1-1 against Yew before Thursday's match.

In men's doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, seeded seventh in the tournament, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 21-14 21-16 win over Indonesia's Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Maulana Bagas in a 36-minute round of 16 match.

The Indian duo next faces the fourth seeded Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the quarterfinals. 

The women's doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand as well as the mixed doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto also bowed out of the tournament in the pre-quarterfinals.

While Treesa and Gayatri lost to the sixth seeded Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul 21-23 13-21, Ishaan and Tanisha suffered 16-21 10-21 defeat against second seeded Japanese duo of Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.