P. V. Sindhu, Pranaav-Sikki enter India Open semis, Saina Nehwal exits

5 Dariya News

New Delhi 02-Feb-2018

India managed to grab only two spots in the semi-finals of the India Open BWF World Tour 500, with only women's singles star P.V. Sindhu and the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy crossing the quarter-finals stage here on Friday.London Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, and the sixth seeded women's doubles pair of N. Sikki and Ashwini Ponnappa were among the six Indian quarter-finalists who bowed out in the last eight stage at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.Defending champion Sindhu got the better of Spanish 8th seed Beatriz Corrales 21-12, 19-21, 21-11 in 54 minutes to set-up a clash against former World champion Ratchanok Intanon, who got past Hong Kong's 7th seed Yip Pui Yin 21-11, 21-11.Hong Kong's sixth seed Cheung Ngan Yi registered an upset 21-12, 21-19 victory over reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain.

In the semi-final, Chenung will meet US' fifth seed Beiwen Zhang, who tamed two-time World Championship medallist Saina 21-10, 21-13 in 32 minutes.Pranaav-Sikki thrashed Chinese Han Chengkai and Cao Tong Wei 21-8, 21-13 to storm into the semi-finals, where they will meet Danish fifth seeds Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen. The Dane pair won 21-17, 21-11 over Indians Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa.India's three men's singles player, Parupalli Kashyap, Sameer Verma and B. Sai Praneeth all lost on the day.Kashyap fell to Chinese Qiao Bin, who won 21-16, 21-18, while Sameer lost to Malaysian Iskandar Zulkarnain 17-21, 14-21. Praneeth was a 15-21, 13-21 loser to Chinese Taipei's third seed Chou Tien Chen.In the men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy fought hard before bowing out to the Indonesian top-seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo with a 19-21, 19-21 defeat.India's sixth seeded women's doubles pair of sikki and Ashwini lost to Chinese Du Yue and Li Yinhui 17-21, 21-23.India's women's doubles seventh seeds Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S. Ram were conquered by Thai second seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai, who won 21-10, 21-15 in 30 minutes.