Days after winning an impressive title at the Indonesia Open, Kidambi Srikanth is just three victories away from making it two titles in a row. Standing in his way in the quarterfinals, though, is his Indian compatriot B Sai Praneeth.
Srikanth has taken his outstanding form into this tournament, beating the No.1 seed 15-21, 21-13, 21-13. This is the second time in a week that Srikanth has managed to beat the world number one, with the Indian also getting the better of the South Korean in an engrossing Indonesia Open semifinal.
Considering the form that he is in, Srikanth will be the favourite against Praneeth, who sealed a place in this all-Indian quarterfinal by beating Huang Yuxiang 21-15, 18-21, 21-13.
Praneeth, like Srikanth, has put up a few impressive performances this year in the badminton circuit, but this one is going to be a tasty encounter, however, you look at it.
While the Indian men battle it out with each other, the women have a couple of really difficult quarterfinals ahead of them.
PV Sindhu might have made short work of Chen Xiaoxin in the previous round, but the tall Hyderabadi is going to have to be at her absolute best to continue her journey in this Australian Open in Sydney.
Sindhu will be up against the No.1 seed Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei. Tai made short work of the talented Ratchanok Intanon in the last round, beating the Thai by barely breaking a sweat, so the top-ranked player is in good form.
That means Sindhu, who sailed past Chen in straight games, will need to be at the peak of her powers as well.
Someone who hasn't quite been at the peak for a while now is Saina Nehwal, with the Indian struggling to get back to her former best after a long-term injury. There have been signs here and there, though, of the Indian returning to where she needs to be to compete for titles, but how far she has come will be known when she plays Sun Yu of China in the last eight.
Saina had to work hard to beat Soniia Cheah of Malaysia in the second round, and, hopefully, that difficult game hasn't taken too much out of her.
When and where to watch live
The all-Indian Srikanth vs Praneeth quarterfinal is set to begin at 3pm local time, 10.30am IST. The women's quarterfinals will start an hour later, with Sindhu's match the second in the list, while Saina is only scheduled to play in the fifth match from that 4pm local time, 11.30am IST start time.
Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD2 will show the Australian Open badminton quarterfinal action live in India. The matches can also be watched by live streaming online on Hotstar.
