KUALA LUMPUR: Seasoned India campaigner Kidambi Srikanth entered the men's singles semifinals of the Malaysia Masters badminton tournament with a hard-fought three-game win over the higher-ranked Toma Junior Popov of France here on Friday.
Srikanth, currently ranked 65th but a former world no. 1 and World Championships and Asian Games silver medallist, fought tooth and nail against world no.18 Popov before outwitting the Frenchman 24-22 17-21 22-20 in a fierce contest that lasted one hour and 14 minutes.
Srikanth will take on Yushi Tanaka of Japan in the last four round, which will be his first semifinal appearance in over a year.
The Japanese beat France's Christo Popov, brother of Toma Junior, 21-18 16-21 21-6 in another men's singles quarterfinal duel on Saturday.
The other men's singles semifinal will be played between fourth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan and second seed Li Shi Feng of China.
Srikanth is now the lone surviving Indian in the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament after the exit of the mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Kapila and Crasto gave top seed Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin of China a tough fight in the first game but lost steam in the next to bow out 22-24 13-21 in a 35-minute affair.