Sai Praneeth in quarterfinals of US Open GP Gold

New York: Sai Praneeth sailed into the quarterfinals after a hard-earned victory while compatriots Ajay Jayaram and R M V Gurusaidutt lost their respective men's singles matches as Indians had a mixed day at the USD 120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here.

Praneeth, seeded 16th, had to toil hard in his pre-quarterfinal match against Huang Yuxiang of China before emerging 21-17 16-21 21-18 victorious in 58 minutes at the Suffolk County Community College facility. He now takes on 12th seed Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong for a place in the semifinals.

It was, however, curtains for Gurusaidutt and Jayaram as they lost to Japanese ninth seed Takuma Ueda (20-22 21-13 16-21) and top seed Chinese Taipei shuttler Chou Tien Chen (18-21 19-21) respectively in their pre-quarterfinal matches.

Meanwhile, fourth seeded women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa notched up a 21-10 21-18 straight-game win over Turkish pair of Ozge Bayrak and Neslihan Yigit in 24 minutes to enter the quarterfinals. The India duo now takes on seventh seeded German pair of Johanna Goliszewski and Carla Nelte in the quarterfinals.

In men's doubles, unseeded Indian duo of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy shocked second seeded Japanese pair of Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Noriyasu Hirata 21-18 14-21 21-19 in their pre-quarterfinal match. They play against English pair of Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge in the quarterfinals.