B. Sai Praneeth is surely riding the high gained after making the final of the recent Swiss Open.
Having struggled through 2018, Praneeth is again looking to turn the clock. It was evident as he repeated his second victory over Sameer Verma in precisely two weeks and earned a clash with K. Srikanth in Friday’s men singles quarterfinals of the Indian Open in New Delhi.
Following a slow start, Praneeth scored a 18-21, 21-16 21-15 victory for a fourth triumph over Verma in six meetings. Against Srikanth, Praneeth holds a 5-2 record. However, in the last meeting in the 2017 Australian Open, it was Srikanth who proved stronger.
On this day, Srikanth easily defeated China’s Lu Gaungzu 21-11, 21-16 and looked ready for his rival ranked 13 places below at 20.
H. S. Prannoy continued his domination of Jan O Jorgensen for a fourth straight career-win. Both players are trying to return to top-flight badminton. While the Dane took a break for a year while Prannoy, since the last World championship was nursing a strange stomach ailment.
“In terms of quality it was not a great match. We both committed mistakes and the match lacked long rallies. But I am happy to have won a close match,” said Prannoy who now faces second seed and another Dane Viktor Axelsen.
P. Kashyap became part of the third men singles quarterfinals where he takes on Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei, the conqueror of Shubhankar Dey.
Among the ladies, P.V. Sindhu was the last winner of the day with an easy win over Hong Kong’s Deng Joy Xuan.
There were some encouraging results for the Indian fans in the women doubles, too, as Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy set up a quarterfinal meeting with the top seeded Indonesians.
In the men’s doubles, an Indian pair in the semifinals became a certainty. In what is going to be an all-India quarterfinals, sixth seed Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy play Prannoy Chopra and Shivam Sharma.
Important pre-quarterfinals results: (Indians unless stated):
Men singles: B. Sai Praneeth bt Sameer Verma 18-21, 21-16, 21-15; Huang Yuxiang (Chn) bt Brice Leverdez 21-8, 21-15; P. Kashyap bt Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Tha) 21-11, 21-13; Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Suppanyu Avihingsanon (Tha) 21-11, 21-19; Wang Tzu Wei (Tpe) bt Subhankar Dey 21-16, 21-13; H. S. Prannoy bt Jan O Jorgensen (Den) 21-19, 22-20, 21-17; K. Srikanth bt Lu Guangzu (Chn) 21-11, 21-16.
Women singles: He Bingjiao (Chn) bt Li Xuerui (Chn) 21-18, 21-17; P.V. Sindhu bt Deng Joy Xuan (Hkg) 21-11, 21-13; Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) bt Chen Xiaoxin (Chn) 21-18, 21-11.
Men doubles: Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy bt Huang Kaixiang and Wang Zekang (Chn) 25-23, 21-18; Pranaav Chopra and Shivam Sharma bt Aniruddha Mayekar and Vinay Kumar Singh 21-15, 21-11.
Women doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy bt Chen Xiaofei and Zhou Chaomin (Chn) 21-18, 21-14.
