Defending champion Saina Nehwal reached the quarterfinals without much trouble but it was Guru Sai Dutt who made heads turn on Thursday as he stunned World No. 9 Pengyu Du of China in a thrilling three-game match in the Hong Kong Super Series.
A day after Ajay Jayaram sent World No. 6 Sho Sasaki of Japan packing, Guru Sai emulated his teammate with a stunning 15-21, 21-7, 21-13 win over Pengyu in a battle which lasted for 56 minutes.
The 21-year-old from Andhra will face another formidable opponent in World No. 2 Chen Long of China in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Earlier, fourth seed Saina beat Jie Yao of the Netherlands 21-17, 21-17 in a 37-minute match to set up a clash with two-time All England champion Tine Baun of Denmark.
The seventh seed Dane defeated Canada's Li Michelle 21-12, 21-14 in another pre-quarterfinal match.
Ajay also continued his fine run and booked a berth in the last eight with a 21-16, 21-15 win over All-England Open champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim in half-an-hour.
However, Arvind Bhat suffered a 10-21, 8-21 defeat to World No. 2 Long Chen of China to crash out of the tournament.
It was sad news for India in the mixed doubles as G. Jwala and V. Diju couldn't make it to the next round losing 18-21, 16-21 to second-seeded Chen Xu and Jin Ma in a match that lasted only 29 minutes.
The campaign of India's men's doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas was also cut short, with the duo losing 11-21, 14-21 to second-seeded Jae Sung Jung and Yong Dae Lee of Korea.
The day belonged to Guru Sai. He was a set down but made a remarkable recovery to stun the Chinese.
Losing the first game after leading 8-4, Guru Sai made sure he didn't give his opponent any opportunity in the next game as he dominated the game to bounce back in style.
The third game was no different as the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist opened up an 8-3 lead and moved quickly ahead to finish things off in style.
The results:
Men: Guru Sai Dutt bt Pengyu Du 15-21, 21-7, 21-13; Ajay Jayaram bt Muhammad Hafiz Hashim 21-16, 21-15; Arvind Bhat lost to Long Chen 10-21, 8-21.
Women: Saina Nehwal bt Jie Yao 21-17, 21-17.
Mixed doubles: G. Jwala & V. Diju lost to Chen Xu & Jin Ma 18-21, 16-21.
