Kuala Lumpur, May 23 : Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth produced a gutsy performance on Friday to book his place in the semi-finals of the Malaysia Masters 2025 badminton tournament in Bukit Jalil.

In a nail-biting men's singles quarter-final clash, Srikanth edged past France's world No. 18 Toma Junior Popov 24-22, 17-21, 22-20 in a marathon encounter that lasted one hour and 14 minutes.

Currently ranked 65th in the world, Srikanth had to dig deep in the deciding game after trailing at the mid-game break. With his trademark resilience, the Indian shuttler clawed his way back to win his fourth match in six meetings against Popov and secure his first semi-final appearance of the season.

This marks Srikanth's best result on the BWF World Tour since his semi-final run at the Swiss Open Super 300 in March 2024. The Indian started the match strongly, racing to a 7-4 lead in the opening game. However, Popov recovered quickly and even held a game point at 21-20. Srikanth showed his composure to turn the tables and clinch the game 24-22.

The second game saw the momentum shift as Popov went into the break with a four-point cushion. Srikanth managed to level the score at 15-all but couldn't maintain the tempo, eventually conceding the game 17-21.

In the decider, Srikanth once again found himself four points behind at the mid-game interval. But showing tremendous grit and court awareness, he mounted an inspired comeback to outlast Popov in a tense finish and move into the last four.

Srikanth had earlier defeated Ireland's world No. 33 Nhat Nguyen in the pre-quarterfinals. He will now face Japan's world No. 22 Yushi Tanaka in the semi-final on Saturday. Tanaka had earlier knocked out India's HS Prannoy in the round of 16.

Meanwhile, India's mixed doubles hopes ended in the quarter-finals. Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila went down fighting 22-24, 13-21 to China's Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin, bronze medallists at the 2023 World Championships.

With their exit, Srikanth remains the only Indian player left in contention at the BWF Super 500 tournament.

/IANS