Swiss Open: Srikanth, Sindhu enter quarterfinals; Satwik-Chirag lose

Basel: Four Indian shuttlers, including double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu and World Championships silver winner Kidambi Srikanth, progressed to the quarterfinals of the Swiss Open badminton tournament here on Thursday.

While Sindhu, a former world champion, eased into the last 8 with a 21-19, 21-14 win over Neslihan Yigit of Turkey, Srikanth staved off a spirited challenge from France's Christo Popov, ranked 60th, with a fighting 13-21, 25-23, 21-11 win in the Super 300 tournament.

Second seed Sindhu will square off against either fifth seed Canada's Michelle Li or Denmark's Line Christophersen.

Seventh-seeded Srikanth, who had missed India leg of the BWF tour in January after testing positive for COVID-19, will face second seeded Dane Anders Antonsen next.

Former top 10 player H S Prannoy also struggled past Finland's Kalle Kolionen 19-21, 21-13, 21-9 to find a place in the quarters as did former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap after top seed and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen gave a walkover.

In other results, third seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 19-21, 20-22 to Indonesian pair of Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan in the men's doubles.

In the women's singles, Ashmita Chaliha put up a tough fight before going down 18-21, 20-22 to eighth seeded Scot Kirsty Gilmour in the second round.

On Wednesday night, Sindhu had entered the second round with a 21-14, 21-12 win over Denmark's Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt.

Also progressing was the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy, who got the better of local pair Aline Muller and Jenjira Stadelmann 21-15, 21-16 in straight games.