Bengaluru, July 14: Indian shuttlers had a field day at Singapore Open 2022 with two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, London Games bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal and in-form HS Prannoy entering the quarterfinals after of the Super 500 badminton tournament in Kallang.
Third seed Sindhu staved off a spirited challenge from Vietnam's world number 59 Thuy Linh Nguyen 19-21, 21-19, 21-18 in the women's singles competition to set up a clash with China's Han Yue.
Prannoy, who reached Malaysia Masters 2022 semifinal last week, notched up his second win in three weeks over world number four and third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 14-21 22-20 21-18 in an hour and nine minute contest.
Singapore Open 2022: Indian shuttlers in action, schedule, results, telecast and live streaming info
The 29-year-old, who is ranked world No.19, is looking to break his five-year-old title run, will face Japan's Kodai Naraoka next.
A day after notching up an unset win over compatriot Kidambi Srikanth, Mithun Manjunath's run ended with a fighting 10-21 21-18 16-21 loss to Ireland's Nhat Nguyen.
Ashmita Chaliha, who had defeated Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan, also couldn't proceed further in the tournament, losing 9-21, 13-21 to Han Yue of China.
Meanwhile, Saina, a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, showed signs of regaining form with an upset win against fifth seeded Chinese He Bing Jiao to make the last eight.
Saina prevailed 21-19, 11-21, 21-17 over the world No.9 Chinese opponent to make the last eight round in a super 500 event in over two and a half years.
The 32-year-old has been battling a series of injuries and lack of form in the past few years, which forced her to skip the selection trials for the Commonwealth Games, in April.
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In the last three years, the Hyderabad shuttler's best performance had been a semifinal finish at Orleans Master Super 100 last year.
She had also reached the quarterfinal stage at Malaysia Masters and Barcelona Spain Masters in 2020.
A total of 88 singles players and 108 doubles teams from across the globe, including as many as 12 singles players and eight doubles pairs from India are participating in Singapore Open 2022, which is being held after a two-year COVID-19 enforced gap.