Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu cruised to the semi-finals even as compatriot Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the Madrid Spain Masters here on Friday.

Sindhu got the better of world No. 19 Mia Blichfeldtof Denmark 21-14, 21-17 to reach her first semi-final of the year. Srikanth, on the other hand, lost to top-seed Japanese shuttler Kenta Nishimoto 18-21, 15-21 in the men’s singles quarter-finals.

Sindhu, seeded second, has been struggling to find her feet since returning from a long injury lay-off.

The 27-year-old has slipped out of the top 10 in world rankings and until now hadn’t been able to cross the second round in the last few tournaments in 2023.

After a sedate start to the match, the former world champion completely dominated the second half of play to take the first game comfortably.

Sindhu was, however, trailing for the most part of the second game. But she made an impressive comeback fighting from 6-12 to register a straight-game win.

The lone Indian left in the Super 300 tournament, Sindhu will clash with the unseeded Yeo Jia Min of Singapore on Saturday for a place in the final.

This year hasn’t worked out as planned for Sindhu, who went out of action after winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal last year in Birmingham.

After her stress fracture healed, Sindhu made a return to the circuit in January.

But she lost her first three individual tournaments of the year — Malaysia Open, India Open and All England Open — in the opening round.