Paris Oct 27 (IANS) Indian shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the quarter-finals while Saina Nehwal B. Sai Praneeth and the women s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy suffered losses in the second round of the French Open World Superseries here on Thursday.
Meanwhile the young men s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Denmark s Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding 22-20 12-21 21-19 in an hour to march into the last eight stage.
Second seed Sindhu eased past Japanese Sayaka Takahashi 21-14 21-13 in 39 minutes. In the quarter-finals on Friday Rio Olympic silver medallist Sindhu will meet Chinese rising star Chen Yufei who dismissed Indonesian Hanna Ramadini 21-17 21-9.
Men s eighth seed Srikanth got past Hong Kong s Wong Wing Ki Vincent 21-19 21-17 in 37 minutes.
However London Olympics bronze medallist Saina lost to Japanese fifth seed Akane Yamaguchi 9-21 21-23 in 39 minutes.
It was 20-year-old Yamaguchi s third consecutive win over 27-year-old Saina who still leads the Japanese 3-1 in head-to-head records.
Yamaguchi completely dominated Saina in the first match after opening up a 13-7 lead before winning it 21-9.
Saina however fought valiantly in the second game. Yamaguchi started again strongly holding a 7-3 lead. Saina kept trailing before managing to equalise at the 19-point mark before taking a 20-19 lead.
However the 2017 Asian Championships silver medallist quickly hit back and pulled level at the 20-point mark and took a 21-20 lead.
Saina once again keptAherself in the reckoning equalising at 21-21. But Yamaguchi stepped up her game to seal it 23-21.
In a men s singles clash Praneeth lost to Japanese qualifier Kenta Nishimoto 13-21 17-21 in 44 minutes.
In a women s doubles match Ashwini and Sikki lost to Japanese top seeds Misaki Matsumoto and Ayaka Takahashi 16-21 14-21 in 38 minutes.
--IANS
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