Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth reached their maiden semifinals at the India Open Super Series badminton tournament
Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth reached their maiden semifinals at the India Open Super Series badminton tournament but giant-killer H S Prannoy and RMV Gurusaidutt failed to capitalise on early advantages and went down fighting in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Five-time world champion Lin Dan also made a stunning exit from the tournament as world number 10 Tommy Sugiarto beat him 21-17 15-21 21-17 in the men's singles at the Siri Fort Sports Complex. Olympic bronze medallist, Saina sailed past Indonesia's Hana Ramadhini 21-15 21-12 in the women's singles competition to stay just one win away from becoming the first Indian woman to achieve the world number one ranking.
Reigning world and All England champion, Carolina Marin of Spain also eked out a 21-15, 17-21, 21-15 win over sixth seed Japanese Nozomi Okuhara to set up a clash with former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, seeded third.
In men's singles, world number four Srikanth outwitted Japan's Takuma Ueda 21-15 23-25 21-18 in a hard-fought battle that lasted an hour an 19 minutes. Prannoy, who had sent the top seed and world number two Jan Jorgensen of Denmark packing, also conjured up hopes of another upset before falling short against world number six Viktor Axelsen 21-16 9-21 18-21.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, Guru had started the proceedings for India and despite playing a compact game initially, he too ran out of ideas in the end to go down 21-15 18-21 13-21 to China's Xue Song in a match that lasted over an hour.
The reigning China Super Series premier champions, Saina and Srikanth, will next take on Japan's Yui Hashimoto and China's Xue Song respectively in the semifinals tomorrow. Saina led 10-6 early on but Hana blasted off four straight points to catch up with the Indian. However, Saina slowly increased the gap with her rival to eventually win the first game.
Also Read: World No 1 at stake as Saina Nehwal gears up for India Super Series
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