Sindhu, Srikanth, Prannoy seal India Open quarter-final berths

But the highlight of the day was HS Prannoy’s thrilling victory over Denmark’s Jan Jorgensen. B Sai Praneeth and Parupalli Kashyap also moved to the last eight of the World Tour Super 500 event after contrasting wins in the men’s singles competition.

Sindhu, who clinched the title in 2017, thrashed Hong Kong’s Deng Joy Xuan 21-11, 21-13 in the women’s singles, while Srikanth recorded a 21-11, 21-16 win over China’s Lu Guangzu in the men’s event. Sindhu will next face Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt, while Srikanth set up a meeting with compatriot B Sai Praneeth.

Prannoy overcame a stiff resistance from former world number 2 Jorgensen, but defeated him 21-19 20-22 21-17 to enter his first quarters in eight months. The winner will next lock horns with second seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.

Praneeth eked out a thrilling come-from-behind 18-21 21-16 21-15 win over fifth seeded compatriot Sameer Verma. Kashyap got rid of Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk with a scoreline of 21-11 21-13 in the pre-quarterfinal contest. With the victory, he set up a fight with Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei, who ended Subhankar Dey’s run with a 21-16 21-13 win.

Riya Mookerjee too showed the stomach to fight before going down 8-21 21-17 13-21 to eighth seed Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark. Men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy overcame China’s Huang Kaixiang and Wang Zekang 25-23 21-18, while Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy prevailed 21-18 21-14 over China’s Chen Xiaofei and Zhou Chaomin.