Jakarta: Defending champion Saina Nehwal, RMV Gurusaidutt and Ajay Jayaram advanced to the quarterfinals of the Indonesian Super Series Premier after winning their respective matches on Thursday.
However, it was curtains for Sai Praneeth in the men’s singles as he went down fighting against World No.1 Lee Chong Wei in the pre-quarters.
Saina registered a comfortable straight-game victory over Sayaka Takahashi of Japan while Gurusaidutt fought hard for his win over Kazumasa Sakai of Japan.
Jayaram caused one of the biggest upsets of the day when he defeated Indonesian fourth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro 22-20, 21-12.
The Mumbaikar will take on Marc Zwiebler of Germany against whom the World No.25 has a 1-1 head-to-head.
World number two Saina outplayed her 24th-ranked opponent 21-13, 21-19 in a women’s singles second round match here.
The 23-year-old from Hyderabad will take on Carolina Marin of Spain in the quarters.
Saina, seeded second, relied on her smashes and superior net play to steer clear of her Japanese rival.
At 14-13 to the Indian, Saina showed her class and easily wrapped up the first game 21-13.
Takahashi went 15-12 up in the second game, but Saina battled on and after an intense fight, she won the game and the match 21-19.
Gurusaidutt prevailed 21-12, 9-21, 21-19 over Sakai. After a comfortable 12-21 win in the opening game, Gurusaidutt was completely outplayed by his opponent in the second game.
The deciding game was a see-saw battle before the Indian upped the ante in time to advance to the next stage. Gurusaidutt will meet Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia in the last eight.
Praneeth, who had defeated former Olympic and World Champion Taufik Hidayat, went out in straight games against Malaysian top seed Chong Wei 18-21, 12-21. In another men’s singles match, Sourabh Varma was thrashed by the Pengyu Du of China 16-21, 6-21.
India’s campaign also ended in both mixed doubles and women’s doubles.
While the women’s double pair of Ashwini Ponnap-pa and Pradnya Gadre lost 13-21, 19-21 to local combo Anneke Feinya Agustin and Della Destiara Haris, Ponnappa along with her mixed doubles partner Tarun Kona were handed a 14-21, 21-17, 13-21 defeat by Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba of Poland. (PTI)