Saina Nehwal defeated Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt 21-12, 21-11 and PV Sindhu beat Linda Zetchiri 21-10, 21-14 to enter the quarter-finals of the India Open Super 500 World Tour tournament in New Delhi on Thursday. While Kidambi Srikanth crashed out in the second round after losing 19-21, 17-21 to Iskandar Zulkarnain.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, Sameer Verma and mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa notched up thrilling three-game wins.
Kashyap, who has been struggling to cross the opening round ever since recovering from his series of injuries, finally reached the quarter-finals of a major event after overcoming compatriot Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-19, 19-21, 21-12.
Coming back after recovering from a shoulder injury, Sameer also dished out an attacking game to see off former World Number 3 and 2014 World Championship bronze medallist Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia 21-18, 19-21, 21-17 in an hour and 20 minutes match.
The unseeded pair of Satwik and Ashwini then registered a stunning 21-16, 15-21, 23-21 win over third seeded Malaysian combo of Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing. The duo blew four match points before recovering in time to reach their maiden quarter-finals of a major tournament.
Eighth seeded Indian duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy also entered the quarter-finals after seeing off Malaysian-Indian pair of Yogendran Khrishnan and Prajakta Sawant 21-10, 21-19 in 32 minutes.
Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy too progressed to the last eight stage with a 21-11, 21-15 win over compatriots Tushar Sharma and Chandrabhusan Tripathi.
Earlier, unheralded Mugdha Agrey’s campaign ended with a 12-21, 16-21 loss against fifth seeded Beiwen Zhang of USA, while eighth seeded Spaniard Beatriz Corrales ended Ruthvika Shivani Gadde’s run with a 21-19, 21-16 win.
Iceland International winners Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg also lost 10-21, 11-21 to fifth seeded Danish pair of Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen. (The Quint)
