Tokyo: Ace Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth entered the quarterfinals of the Japan Open after winning their respective second-round matches of the $750,000 tournament, here on Thursday.
In women's singles, fifth-seeded Sindhu had to fight it out against Aya Ohori as she came back from a game behind to register an 11-21, 21-10, 21-13 victory against her Japanese opponent in a match that lasted more than an hour.
With the win, the Olympic silver medallist has now extended the head-to-head record against Ohori to 8-0.
In men's singles, Praneeth, who had recorded a comfortable win over world No. 11 Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in the first round, defeated another Japanese Kanta Tsuneyama 21-13, 21-16 in just 45 minutes. It was an easy victory for the Indian who will be facing Tommy Sugiarto in the quarterfinals.
However, there was disappointment in other men's singles match as H S Prannoy, who had knocked out Kidambi Srikanth in the opening round, lost to Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 9-21, 15-21.
In men's double event, the Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat China's Huang Kai Xiang and Liu Cheng 15-21, 21-11, 21-19 in a match that lasted 53 minutes to reach the last-eight stage.
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