Jakarta, July 5: Ace India shuttlers PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy won their respective games on Thursday (July 5) to advance into the quarter-finals at Indonesia Open. While Saina Nehwal and Sameer Verma made their exit from the round of 16.
Sindhu edged Japan's Aya Ohori 21-17, 21-14 to make it to the quarterfinals in the women's singles while Prannoy defeated Japan's Wang Tzu Wei 21-23, 21-15, 21-13 to make it to the next round quite convincingly.
Many congratulations on your victory & birthday champion @Pvsindhu1 .🎉🎉
— Dept of Sports MYAS (@IndiaSports) July 5, 2018
May the year ahead to be full of success and take you to the new heights!
Wish you Godspeed. 👍#IndonesiaOpen #IndiaontheRise https://t.co/xdYISuB9LK
Sindhu, who turned 23 today, won the match by putting up a dominant show.
Sindhu's Hyderabadi teammate, Saina, however, had to bow out of the tournament after suffering a defeat in straight sets to China's Chen Yufei. Despite taking a lead at the start of both sets and giving it her all, the Hyderabadi shuttler lost 18-21, 15-21.
With Saina's exit from the tournament, Sindhu is the lone Indian hope in the women's singles contest who will go up against He Bingjiao in the quarters.
Wishing you a very #HappyBirthdayPVSindhu May God bless you with success and happiness. Nation is proud of you pic.twitter.com/fZ2g4KO2NB
— Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) July 5, 2018
Meanwhile, Sameer Verma too failed to make it to the quarter-finals after getting knocked out by World No. 1 Viktor Axelson of Denmark.
Axelson defeated Verma 21-15, 21-14 and advanced to the next round. Prannoy will now carry India's hopes in the quarters of Men's Singles as defending champion Kidambi Srikanth made his shock exit on Tuesday.
Indonesia Open: The giant slayer has done it again! Enters the Quarter Final of #IndonesiaOpen2018 🏸🇮🇳💪👍@PRANNOYHSPRI slayed Wang Tzu Wei 21-23;21-15,21-13. A convincing win Champ, way to go! #IndiaontheRise pic.twitter.com/L3DxbABcpZ
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) July 5, 2018
Earlier on Wednesday, Sindhu eked out a thrilling win to progress to the women's singles pre-quarterfinals of the USD 1,250,000 Indonesia Open. Sindhu saw off Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-15 19-21 21-13. The Hyderabadi shuttler got stiff competition from her Thai counterpart but showed her class to reign supreme at the end.
"It was a good win today. It was the first match and after winning the first game, in the second at 19-19, I made easy mistakes but then I won the third game comfortably, so happy with my performance. Tomorrow I will be playing Aya Ohori, whom I had played at Malaysia too, so I hope I give my best tomorrow," Sindhu said after the match on Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, World No 13 HS Prannoy stunned the legendary Lin Dan of China to advance to the second round. Prannoy started off well against eighth-ranked Lin Dan, winning the first game 21-15. However, the Chinese shuttler came back strong to win the second 21-9 and level the match.
Prannoy then dug deep into his reservoir to see off the iconic shuttler 21-14 at the USD 1,250,000 event. Prannoy had also got the better of Lin Dan at the 2015 French Open.