China Masters: Sindhu, Prannoy enter quarters

After registering an easy victory over Natsuki Nidaira in the opening round on Wednesday, the fourth seed continued her good run by defeating Chien-Hui Yu of Chinese Taipei in the pre-quarters. The World No.10 eased past her lower-ranked opponent 21-19, 21-17 to enter the quarter-final.

Although, Chien-Hui Yu, who is ranked 158th in the world, put in a tame effort in the opening game, the Chinese Taipei shuttler produced a spirited comeback in the second game and almost took the game to a decider by taking the game to 17-18. However, Sindhu showed her prowess in the final minutes and claimed three consecutive points to win the game. The fourth-seeded Indian will face World No.18 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in the quarter-final on Friday.

Swiss Open Champion H S Prannoy also entered the last eight today, after defeating Liew Daren of Malaysia in a one-sided contest. Prannoy, who slipped seven places to 30th in the latest BWF rankings, showed no signs of slipping upon the court and dominated the Malaysian from the start to the finish to win the match 21-10, 21-15. Seventh seed Prannoy will now face World No.1 and top seed Chen Long of China in the quarters on Friday.

Women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa also made their way into the quarters after defeating Liu Wei-Chen and Yang Po Han of Chinese Taipei 21-12, 21-12 in the pre-quarters. However, the men’s doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar bowed out of the tournament after losing to seventh seeds Wang Yilyu and Zhang Wen of China 17-21, 12-21.